THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


TAH-GAH-J  UTE  or  LOGAN 


A  N  IJ 


CAPTAIN  MICHAEL  CRESAP: 


A    DISCOURSE    BY 


BRANTZ    MAYER 


DELIVERED  IN  BALTIMORE,  BEFORE  THE 


MARYLAND  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 


ON   ITS   SIXTH   ANNIVERSARY. 


9    MAY,    1851 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 

By    BRANTZ    MAYER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland. 


PRINTED     FOR     THE 

MARYLAND     HISTORICAL     SOCIETY, 

By  JOHN    MURPHY    &    CO. 
BALTIMORE. 


To  my  Brother 

CHARLES  FREDERICK  MAYER, 

This  effort  to  delineate  the  border  trials  of  our 
Pioneers,  and  to  reverse  the  decree  of  history 
between  an  Indian  and  a  meritorious  Mary- 
lander,  is  affectionately  inscribed. 

Baltimore,  16th  June,  1851. 


511684 

LIB  SETS 


NEARLY  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  have  passed  since 
this  Western  World  was  revealed  to  mankind  by  the  dis- 
covery of  Columbus,  and  though  three  centuries  and  a  half 
afford  ample  time  for  the  doing  of  many  deeds,  yet  scarcely  a 
year  elapses  without  adding  some  new  marvel  to  the  influences 
of  America  upon  the  progressive  civilization  and  comfort  of  the 
human  race. 

If  we  look  on  the  map,  at  the  portion  of  this  Continent 
occupied  by  us  at  present,  we  are  amazed  at  the  vast  expan- 
sion of  our  territorial  limits  within  much  less  than  one- third  of 
this  time.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  British  do- 
minions in  America  were  but  a  fringe  upon  the  Atlantic  shores. 
Beginning  in  the  Bay  of  Pundy  their  outline  ran  south-west- 
wardly  skirting  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  until  it 
touched  the  northern  spurs  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  then,  descend- 
ing along  the  slopes  of  those  mountains,  it  struck  the  northern- 
most angle  of  Florida,  and  finally  terminated  on  the  Atlantic  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Alatamaha.  The  average  breadth  of  this 
scant  region  was  not  more  than  five  degrees.  West  and  north- 
west lay  the  vast  primeval  forests,  the  gigantic  lakes  and  rivers, 
claimed  by  the  French  as  Canada  and  the  Province  of  Louisi- 
ana; while  south,  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Atlantic, 
stretched  the  romantic  shores  of  Florida,  under  the  dominion  of 
Spain.  It  was  not  until  the  epoch  of  the  Indian  troubles,  of 
which  I  am  about  to  speak,  and  on  the  eve  of  our  Revolution- 
ary war,  that  the  Ohio  became  the  recognized  boundary  be- 
tween the  White  and  the  Red  man;  and  he  who  now  entering 
•      2 


one  of  those  floating  palaces  of  the  western  waters  at  Browns- 
ville, and  descending  the  Ohio  to  the  Mississippi,  and  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  Gulf,  can  hardly  believe  that  within  less  than  eighty 
years,  the  whole  of  this  magnificent  region,  where  the  progress 
of  trade  has  not  effaced  all  traces  of  romantic  nature,  was  still  a 
dreary  and  dangerous  wilderness,  tenanted  alone  by  die  wild 
beast,  or  by  human  beings  almost  as  savage.  There  are  men 
still  living  who  recollect  the  legends  of  Indian  warfare  or  foray 
in  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  or  Virginia,  and  can  recount  the 
escape  or  the  death  of  some  ancestor  by  the  tomahawk  and  scalp- 
ing knife.  There  are  those  amongst  us,  too,  whose  hair  is  still 
unsilvered,  who  may  remember  their  sport  as  boys  in  watching 
the  straggling  Indians, — half  beggars,  half  bandits, — who  every 
winter  Uironged  our  streets,  but  whose  only  use  of  the  bow  and 
the  arrow  was  to  win  the  pennies  we  ventured  in  order  to  test 
the  sureness  of  their  aim. 

But  where,  even  now,  is  the  "Far  West,"  which  in  those 
days  was  spoken  of  as  something  mysteriously  indefinite, — as 
something  denoting  perils  of  journey  and  Indian  cruelty  ?  It  was 
then  that  we  had  still  territorial  boundaries  to  settle  with  Britain, 
and  tides  as  well  as  rights  to  adjust  with  stubborn  tribes.  It 
was  then  that  the  far-seeing  and  comprehensive  merchant,  laid 
the  foundation  of  his  wealth,  by  tracking  the  beaver  in  its  wild- 
est haunts  in  Oregon.  It  was  then  that  California  was  remem- 
bered as  a  field  of  romantic  Missionary  labor,  cherished  under 
Mexican  Viceroys,  but  as  a  land  of  abandoned  enterprize.  It  was 
then  that  our  young  and  resUess  spirits  sought  the  valleys  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  as  homes  which  were  beginning  to  be  fully 
redeemed  from  the  hunter  and  the  savage.  That  was  the  Far 
West  of  those  days.  But  now,  strange  names  salute  our  ears, 
sounding  no  more  of  Indian  conquests,  but  commemorative 
monuments  as  long  as  language  shall  last  of  victories  over  civil- 
ized men.  We  have  abandoned  an  Indian  nomenclature  and 
adopted  the  calendar  of  Christian  saints.  Santa  Fe,  the  Rio 
Bravo  del  Norte, — the  Colorado  of  the  West, — the  Pecos, — the 
Gila, — the  Valleys  of  San  Juan,  and  Santa  Clara, — the  Plains 
of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin,  and  the  upland  Vale  at 
the  foot  of  Mount   Shastl; — the  Great  Basin,  around  whose 


saline  waters  the  Mormon  enthusiasts  have  nestled,  seeking 
refuge  among  the  savages  from  the  bigoted  persecutions  of  civil- 
ization;— Monterey, — San  Francisco, — San  Diego, — Chrysop- 
olee  or  the  Golden  Gates, — and  last  of  all,  the  Pacific,  itself,  for 
an  acknowledged  boundary,  and  the  Isthmus  for  a  highway! 
There  is,  no  longer,  a  "Far  West."  States,  now  planting  on 
the  brink  of  the  Pacific  and  washed  by  its  surge,  curb,  in  that 
direction,  the  utmost  possible  limit  of  our  dominion.  Gold,  in 
apparently  inexhaustible  quantities,  has  magnetically  attracted 
an  immense  population  in  the  brief  space  of  three  years.  The 
first  great  experiment  of  planting  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  on  the 
Pacific,  facing  the  Indies  with  a  clear  and  short  highway  in 
front,  is  no  longer  a  problem  to  be  solved.  The  tide  of  emigra- 
tion sets  no  more  exclusively  from  East  to  West,  but  rapidly 
ebbs  and  surges  backward,  as  China,  Hindustan,  the  Australian 
colonies,  the  Pacific  Islands,  the  Chilian,  Peruvian,  and  Mexi- 
can states,  pour  their  motley  crowds  of  eager  immigrants  along 
the  whole  coast  from  the  Gila  to  the  Columbia.  The  icy  tops 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada  are  passed,  and  the  Great  upland  Basin  of 
Utah  becomes  the  thoroughfare  of  traders,  pilgrims,  and  car- 
avans from  the  far  East.  Through  the  wilderness  to  Santa  Fe, 
and  thence  along  the  Southern  passes  of  the  mountains,  other 
crowds  press  each  other,  to  and  fro,  on  the  path  of  the  modem 
Ophir.  And  thus,  in  the  progress  of  a  few  brief  years,  the 
swollen  tides  of  humanity  bursting  the  barriers  of  the  Allegha- 
nies  from  the  East,  and  of  the  Nevada  from  the  West,  must  at 
last  meet  and  mingle  in  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
which  is  destined  to  become  the  centra]  mart  of  our  mighty 
Union. 

In  God's  genial  providence  of  gradually  opening  the  resources 
of  this  world  for  the  progress  of  mankind  there  is  the  most 
perfect  accommodation  to  the  enlarging  wants  and  capacities  of 
our  race.  Every  thing  is  not  disclosed  at  once.  The  good, 
the  desirable,  the  necessary,  are  hidden  away  in  the  earth's 
secret  places,  and  the  task  of  laborious  enterprize  is  imposed  on 
man  for  their  discovery  and  useful  preparation.  Yet,  marvellous 
as  are  the  modern  developments  of  industry,  of  science,  and, 


8 

sometimes  even,  of  apparent  chance,  there  is  no  exhaustion  in 
these  resources,  for  new  means  of  success  seem  to  keep  constant 
pace  with  each  new  labor  and  enterprize.  Our  Beneficent 
Parent  works  out  his  wonderful  schemes  by  human  agents,  not 
by  miracles.  Humanity,  with  all  its  virtues  and  all  its  sins,  is 
charged  with  the  noble  task  of  free  development,  and  thus  the 
results  become  the  work  of  man  and  are  made  the  trials  and 
tests  his  of  responsibility. 

The  Old  World  became  crowded,  and  space  was  required  in 
which  the  cramped  and  burdened  millions  might  find  room  for 
industry  and  independence, — and  a  New  Continent  was  suddenly 
disclosed  for  their  occupation.  The  old  political  systems  of 
Europe  and  of  the  Eastern  nations  decayed  in  consequence  of 
the  encroachments  of  individual  power  made  despotic  by  corrup- 
tion or  force, — and  a  virgin  country  was  forthwith  opened  as  a 
refuge  for  the  oppressed  masses  in  which  the  principle  of  abso- 
lute political  and  religious  freedom  might  be  tried  without  any 
convulsive  effort  to  cast  off  the  fetters  of  feudalism.  The  labor 
of  man,  even  in  this  new  world  began  to  strip  commercial  coun- 
tries of  their  forests  or  made  them  too  valuable  for  fuel, — and, 
suddenly,  the  heart  of  the  earth  is  found  to  be  veined  with  min- 
erals which  will  save  the  lives  of  the  majestic  monarchs  who 
shade  and  shelter  the  surface.  Coal  thus  becomes  the  most 
potent  agent  in  commercial  development,  for,  without  it,  the 
seas  could  not  be  traversed  with  the  rapidity  and  certainty  that 
modern  wants  exact.  The  increasing  industry  and  invention  of 
the  largely  augmented  populations  of  various  countries,  required, 
either  a  greater  amount  of  capital  to  represent  their  productions, 
or  a  new  standard  of  value  for  the  precious  metals  already  in 
circulation, — and,  at  once,  apparently  by  mere  accident,  an 
adventurer  discovered  amid  the  frosts  and  forests  of  the  Pacific, 
a  golden  region  in  which  the  fabled  sands  of  Pactolua  are  real- 
ized. At  last,  even  steam  itself  becomes  too  slow  for  mankind, 
and  human  skill,  chaining  magnetism  to  its  purposes  and  lacing 
the  earth  with  its  wires,  embroiders  the  whole  world  with  the 
electricity  of  thought.  But  all  these  vast  storehouses  of  inven- 
tion, comfort  and  wealth,  are  not  placed  at  our  doors,  in  the 


midst  of  civilization,  ready  to  be  grasped,  comprehended  or 
used  with  equal  ease  by  the  dainty  idler  or  the  patient  worker. 
Far  away  in  distant  regions  they  lie.  Far  away  amid  forests 
and  perils.  Far  away  in  lands  which  are  reached  by  dreary 
voyages.  Far  away, — requiring  the  renewal  of  hope  in  des- 
ponding hearts,  and  renewal  of  energies  in  broken  men.  There 
they  lie — long  concealed  and  wisely  garnered  temptations, — to  be 
discovered  at  the  appropriate  moment  in  the  world's  progress, 
and  to  lead  man  thither  as  the  founder  of  a  new  field  of  human 
industry. 

In  this  genial  development  of  our  globe  three  classes  of  per- 
sons have  always  been  needed: — the  Discoverer,  the  Conqueror, 
and  the  Pioneer. 

Emigration  is  the  overflowing  of  a  bitter  cup.  Men  do  not 
ordinarily  leave  their  native  lands  and  kindred  for  the  perils  of 
the  wilderness,  or  for  a  country  with  which  they  have  no  com- 
munity of  laws,  language,  or  present  interest,  unless  poverty  or 
bad  government  crowds  them  into  the  forest.  When  the  Dis- 
coverer and  the  Conqueror  have  found  the  land  and  partly 
tamed  the  savage,  the  Pioneer  advances  into  their  field  of  relin- 
quished enterprize,  and  his  task  partakes,  in  some  degree,  of  the 
dangers  incurred  by  both  his  predecessors.  He  is  always  a  lover 
and  seeker  of  independence,  and  generally  pursues  it  with  a 
laudable  desire  to  improve  his  lot;  yet  the  perfect  exercise  of 
this  independence  sometimes  becomes  selfishly  exclusive.  Its 
essence,  in  our  country,  is  the  complete  self-reliance  of  the  one 
man  or  the  one  family.  This  spirit  of  social,  political,  and 
industrial  independence,  occasionally  becomes  wild,  impatient 
and  uncontrollable.  Its  mildest  exhibition  under  such  circum- 
stances, is  in  rude  manners  or  wayward  lawlessness,  which  out- 
raged neighborhoods  are  wont  summarily  to  redress.  True 
civilized  liberty  does  not  countenance  such  mockers  of  justice 
within  its  pale,  and  thus  there  are  multitudes  who  not  only  go 
voluntarily  and  wisely  into  new  lands,  but  other  heedless  or 
scoffing  crowds  are  scourged  by  society  into  the  sombre  forest. 
Slowly  and  surely  are  these  elements  of  new  States,  gathered, 
purged,  and  crystalized  around  the  centres  of  modem  civilization. 


10 

Hope,  ambition,  misery,  avarice,  adventure,  noble  purpose, 
drive  ofi*  impatient  men  who  will  not  be  satisfied  with  the 
slow,  dripping,  accretions  of  wealth  in  the  old  communities. 
They  require  fortune  and  position  by  a  leap.  Independence 
demands  space  for  the  gigantic  inspirations  of  its  vast  lungs,  and 
flies  headlong  to  the  forest.  The  wandering  woodsman  or  hunter 
gathers  his  brothers  in  armed  masses  for  protection  amid  this 
chaos  of  unorganized  freedom,  and  they  support  each  other 
cheerfully  in  seasons  of  danger  or  disease.  But  the  social  law 
of  humanity  vindicates  itself  against  the  eager  spirit  of  perfect 
independence.  Wherever  man  who  has  once  either  drained  or 
sipped  the  cup  of  civilization,  is  found,  there  must  he  be  fed 
and  clothed,  nor  does  he  cease  to  yearn  for  the  relinquished 
luxuries,  amusements,  or  comforts  of  the  home  he  abandoned 
beyond  the  eastern  mountains.  Wherever  man  goes,  man's 
representative, — money, — pursues  him;  and  secretly  he  longs 
for  the  pleasing  results  of  that  civilization  which  he  feigns  to 
despise.  Thus  the  Pioneer  may  be  said  to  bait  the  forest  like  a 
trap,  for  the  Trader.  Taking  up  the  war  with  the  Indian 
where  the  Conqueror  left  it,  he  at  once  subdues  the  soil  and  the 
savage.  The  Fanner,  at  length,  plants  himself  on  the  land 
that  the  Ranger  wrests  from  the  Indian.  The  Merchant  covers 
with  his  sails  the  seas  that  were  scourged  by  the  Pirate.  The 
dollar  dulls  the  edge  of  the  bowie-knife.  Where  the  Pioneer 
treads,  the  Missionary  follows.  Element  by  element,  civiliza- 
tion drops  in.  Peace,  like  a  cooling  shadow,  follows  the  blaze 
of  war.  Death  closes  the  career  of  the  primeval  Forester, 
and  the  law  of  God,  vindicating  by  its  perfect  ultimate  success, 
the  merit  of  Peace,  whose  triumphs  are  the  only  true  ones, 
plants  the  Trader  and  the  Farmer  on  his  grave,  and  that  which 
was  wildly  won  is  quietly  and  permanently  enjoyed. 

Our  habitual  and  perhaps  almost  necessary  devotion  to  the 
Present  m  a  country  where  property  is  so  little  treasured  or 
transmitted  in  families,  and  our  prying  anxiety  to  know  the 
secrets  of  the  future,  have  made  us  too  heedless  of  the  memory 
of  the  Past.  Our  law  of  history,  like  our  law  of  property,  not 
only  prevents  an  entail  of  our  accumulations,  but  the  Past  and 


11 

the  Present  may  be  said  to  disinherit  the  Future,  and  to  leave 
no  legacies.  Yet  I  have  ventured  to  hope  that  it  would  not 
be  uninteresting  to  Marylanders,  if,  on  this  occasion  of  our 
annual  historic  festival,  I  spoke  to  them  of  the  days  that 
are  gone,  and  endeavored,  by  a  glimpse  of  our  "scant  an- 
tiquity," to  display  the  romantic  story  of  some  of  our  own 
people  who  were  among  the  first  in  Lord  Baltimore's  Province 
to  mark  the  Pioneer  progress  to  the  western  wilds.  Maryland, 
thrust  geographically  as  a  wedge  between  the  great  Provinces  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  was  among  the  earliest  to  furnish 
her  quota  of  hardy  foresters,  who  in  their  contests  with  the 
Indian,  prepared  themselves  for  the  subsequent  conflict  with 
England  in  the  war  of  Independence. 

You  will  recollect  that  it  was  only  a  few  years  after  Pon- 
tiac's  war  that  small  settlements  of  whites  had  crept  westward 
through  the  defiles  of  the  Alleghanies  and  along  the  prin- 
cipal paths,  the  northernmost  of  which  converged  at  old  Fort 
Du  Q,uesne  or  Pitt,  whilst  the  southernmost  led  to  the  fountains 
of  the  Holston  and  the  Clinch.  A  town  was  laid  out  on  the 
East  bank  of  the  Monongahela  within  two  hundred  yards  of 
Fort  Pitt,  and,  for  seventy  miles  above  it,  a  route  had  been  cut 
through  the  wilderness  to  "  Red-Stone  Old  Fort,"  near  the 
mouth  of  Dunlap's  Creek,  now  the  site  of  Brownsville. 

About  the  year  1774,  Virginia  still  claimed  by  virtue  of  her 
charter,  all  the  territory  between  the  parallels  of  36°  30'  and 
39°  40'  North  latitude,  from  the  margin  of  the  Atlantic  due 
West  to  the  Mississippi,  and  thus  enclosed  within  her  assumed 
limit,  not  only  the  region  which  at  present  is  comprised  in  Ken- 
tucky, but  also  the  Southern  half  of  Illinois,  one-third  of  Ohio, 
and  an  extensive  part  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  Settlements 
had  been  planted  upon  most  of  the  eastern  branches  of  the 
Monongahela,  the  Youghiogeny,  and  on  the  small  eastern  tribu- 
taries of  the  upper  Ohio,  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
below  Pittsburgh,  as  well  as  on  the  sources  of  the  Greenbrier, 
the  little  Kenhawa  and  Elk  river,  West  of  the  Mountains, — 
embracing  in  these  districts,  the  North- Western  counties  of  Vir- 
ginia and  the  South- Western  of  Pennsylvania  as  at  present 


12 

defined.  Pittsburgh  was  claimed  as  a  frontier  town  of  Virginia, 
while  the  southern  settlements,  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  were  held  to  belong  to  the  same  province.  Yet  the 
vast  region  South  of  the  little  Kenhawa  and  Westward  thence 
to  the  Mississippi,  with  but  slight  exceptions,  was  a  perfect 
wilderness  held  by  savages.  The  lonely,  isolated  settlement 
of  a  few  poor,  ignorant  French  Colonists  on  the  Wabash  and 
Illinois  rivers,  had,  it  is  true,  fallen  under  British  dominion, 
after  the  peace  of  Paris,  but  these  immigrants  were  scarcely 
regarded  as  British  subjects,  and  were  held  as  outlying  foreign 
military  colonists,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  in  advance  of 
civilization,  having  but  little  interest  or  sympathy  with  the  Pio- 
neers who  penetrated  the  wilderness  from  Virginia,  Pennsylva- 
nia or  Maryland. 

The  French  and  Indian  Wars  and  the  true  pioneer  spirit 
which  characterized  so  many  Americans  at  that  day,  had  sprin- 
kled this  region  of  woods,  mountains  and  rivers,  with  bold, 
enterprizing  woodsmen,  traders,  hunters,  and  agriculturists,  and 
with  lion  hearted  women  who  were  proper  mates  for  men 
stamped  with  so  much  energy  and  fortitude  in  the  iron  mintage 
of  border  trial.  The  majority  of  this  enterprizing  class  was 
hardy  and  virtuous,  though,  as  in  all  such  frontier  communities, 
the  honest  and  daring  were  followed  by  miscreants  who  were 
willing  either  to  shelter  themselves  from  law  in  the  wilderness, 
or  to  encounter  the  risks  of  a  wild  life  without  caring  for  ulti- 
mate results.  But  the  pioneer  was  a  liberal  and  hospitable 
being,  for  he  appreciated  the  loneliness  and  discomforts  of  his 
own  perilous  lot,  and  was  prompt  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
all  who  ventured  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  His  fringed  and 
fanciful  hunting  shirt,  which  may  still  be  found  among  the 
mountains  of  our  own  Cumberland, — his  deer-skin  leggins, — 
his  gaily  embroidered  moccasins — his  tomahawk  and  scalping- 
knife, — his  bullet  pouch,  powder  horn,  and  ready  rifle, — made 
up  his  personal  equipments  of  comfort  and  defence.  He  was 
a  picturesque  being  as  he  was  beheld  descending  the  slopes  of 
the  mountains  or  relieved  against  the  blue  sky  or  the  dark 
shadows  of  the  forest.     In  his  lonely  region  no  mechanics  were 


13 

to  be  hired,  and  every  Pioneer  was  obliged  to  do  his  own  worK 
or  to  possess  within  his  family  the  necessary  elements  of  labor 
in  the  field  or  at  the  plough,  the  loom,  and  the  anvil.  His  gun 
was  in  constant  use  against  the  Indian  as  well  as  the  bear  and 
the  deer.  Yet  never  was  he  an  ungenerous  neighbor  when  a 
new  cabin  was  to  be  erected  for  an  immigrant,  or  a  crop  to  be 
gathered  for  the  friend  who  inhabited  his  district.  The  "  husk- 
ing match  "  and  the  "  log  rolling ' '  are  distinctly  recorded  among 
the  kindly  and  helping  memorials  of  early  settlements,  in  those 
days,  when  the  genuine  "  cabin,"  made  without  nails,  mortar 
or  bricks,  was  the  home  of  many  an  ancestry  that  has  given 
rulers  to  our  Union.  A  common  danger  cemented  these  forest 
settlements  in  a  bond  of  mutual  defence  and  interest.  It  was 
a  life  of  incessant  wariness  or  of  peril  to  be  encountered,  and 
thus,  mutual  dependence  and  the  fear  of  the  savage,  formed 
the  best  police  of  the  pioneer,  for  it  warned  off  weak  and  irres- 
olute interlopers  and  permitted  none  but  the  hardy  and  true  to 
abide  in  the  forest. 

Nor  were  these  men  so  improvident  as  to  omit  strengthening 
themselves,  not  only  by  social  acts  of  faith  and  friendship,  but 
by  supplying  their  bands  with  forts,  block  houses,  and  stations, 
constructed  of  massive  logs  and  slabs,  proof  against  bullets,  and 
built  around  or  near  a  never-failing  spring.  These  defences, 
constructed  at  points  easy  of  access  as  places  of  refuge  to  a 
whole  neighborhood  of  agriculturists  or  hunters,  were  perfect 
safe  guards  against  a  foe  who  had  no  artillery,  but  were  rarely 
tenanted  unless  at  periods  of  general  alarm,  or  when  the  Pio- 
neers left  their  farms  in  the  spring  upon  the  announcement  of 
some  Indian  murder  in  the  vicinity. 

These  adopted  children  of  the  wilderness  were,  of  course, 
not  unskilled  in  wood  craft.  The  stars,  the  sun,  the  bark  of 
trees  were  their  guides.  The  weather  informed  the  settler 
whether  he  was  to  encounter  his  game  for  the  day  on  the  moun- 
tain tops,  the  hill  sides  or  in  the  vallies;  and  when  "  the  buck" 
was  slain,  skinned,  and  dressed,  the  early  night  was  passed  in 
glee  and  stoiy  around  the  fire  of  his  joyous  ''hunting  camp." 
Witchcraft  was  firmly  believed  by  many  of  them,  for  strange 
sights  and  sounds,  and  a  lonely  life,  gave  play  to  the  imagination 
3 


14 

or  to  the  recollection  of  old  superstitions  learned  in  infancy. 
Singing,  dancing,  shooting  the  rifle,  throwing  the  tomahawk, 
wrestling,  and  all  athletic  or  manly  sports,  formed  the  con- 
stant diversions  of  the  settlers  when  they  were  at  leisure  or 
on  remembered  holidays;  while  the  most  boisterous  merriment 
prevailed  at  wedding  frolics,  or  at  the  "house-warming"  of  the 
forest  bride  and  her  gallant  groom.  Lawyers  and  Judges  were 
unknown  in  these  rough  and  simple  communities,  yet  a  strong 
moral  sense  and  the  stern  demands  of  duty,  preserved  rights 
and  interests  in  regions  were  no  man  could  afford  to  be  idle. 
Debts  were  but  little  known.  Laziness,  dishonesty,  and  ill-fame 
roused  the  general  public  opinion  of  the  settlement.  Thieves 
were  flogged.  Personal  disputes  were  settled  by  battles  with 
fists,  after  which  the  parties  became  reconciled;  and  evil  men, 
in  the  emphatic  language  of  the  day,  were  "  hated  out  of  the 
neighborhood." 

The  wants  of  these  backwoodsmen  required  an  annual  visit 
to  the  east,  and  every  autumn  associations  were  fonned  for  the 
yearly  caravan,  which,  with  its  long  trains  of  horses,  bearing 
peltries  and  Indian  ware,  might  be  heard  tinkling  its  bells  in  the 
forests  or  along  the  mountain  defiles  as  it  wound  its  way  to 
Hagerstown,  Old  Town,  Cumberland  and  Baltimore  to  exchange 
the  products  of  the  wilderness  for  salt,  iron,  lead  and  powder.  • 

With  these  brief  sketches  of  the  country  and  the  men  of  that 
part  of  the  North  American  wilderness  which  was  most  closely 
connected  with  Maryland  just  before  the  revolution,  I  shall  pro- 
ceed to  delineate  the  deeds  and  career  of  some  individuals 
whose  names  are  linked  with  our  State's  story  by  romantic  inci- 
dents which  I  believe  have  passed  into  history  inaccurately,  and 
are  now  transmitted  from  page  to  page  by  new  writers  as  con- 
ceded facts. 

While  endeavoring  to  perform  this  duty  to  the  memory  of  a 
meritorious  fellow  citizen,  I  may  also  be  able  to  illustrate  the 
value  of  historical  societies,  which,  by  devoting  themselves  to 

1  See  Rev.  Dr.  Doddridge's  Notes  on  the  Settlement  and  the  Indian  Wars  of 
the  Western  parts  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  from  1763  to  1783,  in  Kerche- 
val  's  History  of  the  Valley  of  Va. 


15 

the  minuter  investigations  of  literature,  are  enabled  to  trace  criti- 
cally the  pedigree  of  long  recorded  falsehoods,  and  thus  to  vin- 
dicate individuals  if  they  do  not  always  exculpate  our  race  from 
motives  or  crimes  that  would  forever  degrade  mankind. 

Colonel  Thomas  Cresap, — the  parent  of  Captain  Michael 
Cresap  who  has  been  scornfully  portrayed  as  the  instigator  if 
not  one  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  alleged  murder  of  the  Indian 
Logan's  family  in  the  early  part  of  1774, — emigrated  from 
Yorkshire,  England,  to  America,  when  he  was  about  fifteen 
years  of  age.  We  know  nothing  of  his  intervening  career  until 
fifteen  years  after,  when  he  married  a  Miss  Johnson,  and  settled 
either  at  or  near  Havre  de  Grace,  on  the  shores  of  our  beautiful 
Susquehannah.  He  was,  emphatically,  a  u  poor  man;"  so  poor, 
indeed,  according  to  the  family  legends,  that  being  involved  in 
debt  to  the  extent  of  nine  pounds,  currency,  he  was  obliged 
soon  after  his  inopportune  marriage,  to  depart  for  the  south  in 
order  to  improve  his  fortune!  He  left  his  young  wife  in  Mary- 
land, and  hastening  to  Virginia,  became  acquainted  with  the 
Washington  family,  and  rented  from  it  a  good  farm  with  the 
intention  of  removing  finally  to  the  flourishing  colony.  But,  on 
returning  for  his  bride,  he  found  that  he  had  become  a  parent, 
and  that  the  resolute  matron  was  loth  to  quit  the  Susquehannah 
for  the  Potomac.  Accordingly,  like  a  docile  husband,  he  sub- 
mitted to  her  whim,  and  contriving  to  free  himself  from  debt, 
removed  still  higher  up  on  the  river  to  Wright's  ferry,  opposite 
the  town  of  Columbia,  where  he  obtained  a  Maryland  title  for 
five  hundred  acres  of  land.  Unfortunately,  however,  for  the 
settler,  this  was  disputed  ground,  and  as  it  was  soon  claimed 
under  a  Pennsylvania  title,  a  sort  of  border  war  occurred,  in 
which  Cresap  espoused  the  cause  of  Lord  Baltimore  with  as 
much  zeal  as  the  Pennsylvanians  sustained  that  of  Penn.  His 
enemies  regarding  him  as  a  powerful  foe,  seem  to  have  resorted 
to  the  basest  means  to  rid  themselves  of  his  presence.  An 
Indian  was  hired  to  assassinate  him  in  his  own  house;  yet,  won 
by  his  kindness  and  hospitality,  the  savage  disclosed  the  plot 
and  was  pardoned  for  the  meditated  crime.  At  length,  how- 
ever, a  regular  battle  took  place  between  the  factionists,  and 


16 

Cresap's  party  having  wounded  several  of  Penn's  partizans, 
kept  the  field  and  gained  the  day. 

The  Pennsylvania  warriors,  nevertheless,  soon  rallied  their 
discomfited  forces  and  besieged  the  fort  in  which  the  Maryland 
champion  had  entrenched  himself.  But  the  stalwart  Cresap 
held  out  bravely  against  all  comers,  though  he  was  singled  as 
the  special  victim  of  the  assailants.  Nevertheless,  in  time,  he 
deemed  it  advisable  to  demand  aid  from  his  neighbors;  and  as 
his  eldest  boy,  Daniel,  was  at  this  time,  about  ten  years  old,  he 
despatched  the  young  forester  in  the  night  to  obtain  the  required 
succor.  The  wild  frontier  stripling  apt  as  he  already  was  in  the 
ways  of  the  wilderness,  could  not,  however,  elude  the  vigilant 
besiegers,  and  being  taken  captive,  endeavored  to  destroy  the 
hostile  clan  while  assembled  around  the  fire,  by  casting  therein 
its  whole  stock  of  powder  which  he  found  tied  up  in  a  hand- 
kerchief. Fortunately  for  the  party,  he  was  detected  in  time 
to  escape  the  disastrous  explosion. 

If  the  young  Cresap  was  unable  to  blow  up  his  father's  assail- 
ants, the  elder  was  well  nigh  doomed  to  the  fate  his  son  had 
designed  for  the  followers  of  Penn.  The  besiegers  finding  that 
they  could  not  arouse  or  dislodge  the  stubborn  Yorkshireman 
from  his  lair,  determined  to  set  fire  to  the  roof  and  thus  to  "  roast 
him  out' '  of  his  fortress!  No  terms  of  capitulation  were  offered ; 
and  as  Cresap  disdained  to  ask  his  life  at  their  hands,  he  rushed 
to  the  door,  and  wounding  the  sentinel,  escaped  to  his  boat. 
But  here,  surrounded  by  superior  numbers,  he  was  seized,  over- 
powered, bound,  and  thrown  into  the  skiff.  Nevertheless  as 
his  captors  were  conveying  him  across  the  Susquehannah  in  the 
dark,  he  contrived,  notwithstanding  his  ligatures,  to  elbow  one 
of  the  guard  into  the  water.  The  Pennites,  in  the  darkness, 
mistaking  their  companion  for  Cresap,  beset  him,  forthwith, 
with  oars  and  poles,  nor  was  it  until  the  lusty  cries  and  rich 
brogue  of  the  unfortunate  Irishman  undeceived  them,  that  he 
was  relieved  from  the  beating  and  the  bath.  Passing  through 
Columbia  to  Lancaster,  Cresap  was  heavily  manacled;  but  even 
then,  lifting  his  arms  as  soon  as  the  work  was  done,  he  smote 
the  smith  on  the  head  with  his  ironed  hands  and  levelled  him 
to  the  ground.     Nevertheless,  he  was  effectually  a  prisoner  and 


17 

was  borne  off  in  triumph  to  Philadelphia,  where  the  streets, 
doors  and'  windows  were  thronged  with  spectators  to  see  the 
Maryland  monster,  who  taunted  the  crowd  by  exclaiming  half 
in  earnest  half  in  derision: — "why  this  is  the  finest  city  in  the 
Province  of  Maryland!" 

The  Pennsylvanians  at  length  became  weary  of  their  sturdy 
and  audacious  guest,  yet  he  would  not  depart  until  released  by 
order  of  the  King,  about  October,  1737,  after  suffering  nearly 
a  year's  confinement.1  In  the  meantime,  his  family  sought 
shelter  in  an  Indian  town  on  the  Codorus,  near  York,  where 
it  was  hospitably  entertained  by  the  savages  until  his  return. 
Finding  his  old  neighborhood  too  dangerous  or  disagreeable,  he 
soon  removed  to  a  valuable  farm  at  Antietamj  and  as  it  was  a 
frontier  post,  in  advance  of  white  population,  he  built,  over  a 
beautiful  spring,  a  stone  house  which  was  half  dwelling  and 
half  fortress. 

He  seems  to  have  possessed  the  deserved  confidence  of  some 
of  the  most  respectable  families  of  Maryland ;  for  in  this  new 
settlement,  he  commenced  the  business  of  a  trader,  partly  on  a 
borrowed  capital  of  ^500,  which  he  obtained  from  Mr.  Dulany. 
But  unluckily  his  venture  of  skins  and  furs,  sent  to  England, 
was  lost  in  a  ship  which  was  captured  by  the  French,  and  he 
was  thus  compelled  to  begin  the  world  anew  for  the  third  time. 
Yet  his  honest  heart  did  not  fail  under  renewed  misfortunes. 
He  offered  his  land,  consisting  of  about  1400  acres,  to  Dulany, 
in  payment  of  his  debt;  and  being  thus  stripped  of  nearly  all  his 
worldly  possessions,  he  removed,  about  1742  or  1743,  to  a  spot, 

•  See  Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  p.  25.  The  most  complete  details  of  these  bor- 
der difficulties,  which  I  have  not  space  even  to  sketch  at  present,  will  be  found 
by  the  historical  student  in  the  MSS.  and  Records  preserved  at  Annapolis  in 
the  State  library;  in  Rupp's  History  of  York  County,  Pa.,  p.  547  to  563;  and 
in  Hazard's  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  page  200  et  seq;  and  page  209  et  seq;  of 
the  2d  volume, — in  a  sketch  of  the  boundary  dispute  and  hostilities  growing 
out  of  it  from  1728  to  1737,  betwixt  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  Penns.  Cresap 
was  an  ardent  partizan  of  the  Maryland  Proprietor,  and  acted  with  great  vigor 
in  defence  of  his  own  and  his  Lord's  rights  or  demands.  See,  also,  Gordon's 
Hist.  Penna.  221.  Gordon  and  Day  are  brief,  while  Proud  is  silent.  Cresap 
was  released  in  consequence  of  an  order  of  the  King  in  council  commanding 
both  parties  "to  refrain  from  further  violence,  to  drop  all  prosecutions,  and  to 
discharge  their  respective  prisoners  on  bail." 


18 

in  what  is  at  present  Alleghany  county,  Maryland,  called  Old- 
town,  or  as  he  delighted  to  name  it, — aSkipton,"-^-after  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  situated  on  the  north  fork,  a  few  miles 
above  the  junction  of  the  north  and  south  branches  of  the  Poto- 
mac.1 Here,  at  length,  after  all  his  early  trials,  he  established 
his  permanent  home,  and  finally  acquired  by  industry  and 
perseverance  in  the  neighborhood,  a  large  landed  estate  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  in  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

About  this  epoch,  he  renewed  his  intimacy  with  the  Wash- 
ington family,  who  always  reposed  confidence  in  him ;  and  being 
known  as  a  bold  and  skilful  woodsman,  he  was  employed  by 
the  parties  who  formed  in  1748  the  celebrated  Ohio  company. 
This  association,  among  whose  members,  we  find  Lawrence 
Washington,  and  his  brother  Augustine,  received  from  the 
British  King  a  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  to  be 
taken  chiefly  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio,  between  the 
Monongehela  and  Kenhawa  rivers,  west  of  the  Alleghanies.* 
The  object  of  the  enterprize  was  to  settle  land,  and  to  carry  on 
the  Indian  trade  on  a  large  scale.  But  the  French,  alarmed  by 
this  threatened  advance  of  English  Pioneers,  began  immediately 
to  extend  a  line  of  forts  along  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  passing 
through  a  vast  extent  of  territory  which  was  claimed  by  Great 
Britain.  In  spite  of  all  opposition,  the  English  grantees  pur- 
sued their  enterprize,  and  Col.  Cresap's  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  of  pioneer  life,  was  of  great  service  to  them,  in 
tracing  the  very  first  path  through  the  windings  of  the  Allegha- 
nies. As  one  of  their  agents  in  that  region,  he  employed  an 
Indian  named  Nemacolin,  to  mark  the  road  by  the  well  known 
trail  of  the  tribes,  and  it  is  said,  he  performed  his  duty  so  well, 
that  the  army  pursued  the  same  path  when  Braddock  marched 
to  the  west  to  dislodge  the  French.  Colonel  Cresap,  thus 
stationed  on  the  extreme  outposts  of  civilization,  became  an 
important  pioneer  in  the  early  development  of  the  west;  nor 

1  See  Colden's  Hist,  of  the  Five  Nations,  p.  3,  and  84,  edition  1755.  See 
Philadelphia  Treaty  of  1742,  and  Canassateego 's  speech  at  the  Lancaster 
Treaty,  1744. 

*  Washington's  Writings,  vol.  2,  appendix  vi,  pages  478  and  479,  and  appen- 
dix vii. 


19 

did  lie  cease  many  years  afterwards,  to  devote  his  mind  and 
hopes  to  those  fine  regions  in  which  he  saw  the  future  grandeur 
of  his  country.  When  he  had  attained  the  patriarchal  age  of 
ninety,  he  conceived  and  digested  a  plan  to  explore  as  far  west 
as  the  Pacific,  and  nothing  but  his  advanced  years  prevented 
the  accomplishment  of  an  enterprize  which  he  cherished  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  an  early  borderer. 

The  grants  to  the  English  Company  not  only  caused  the 
French  to  establish  their  line  of  forts,  but,  as  is  well  known, 
resulted  in  a  war  which  retarded  the  advance  of  civilization. 
The  Indians  were  roused,  and  desolated  the  border.  Cresap, 
on  his  extreme  frontier  settlement  among  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains, held  a  most  dangerous  post;  but  it  was  an  eagle's  nest, 
fit  for  a  bold  spirit,  and  he  would  not  willingly  desert  it.  When 
hotly  pressed  by  the  savage  foe  he  fought  his  way  to  Conoco- 
cheague,  and  having  placed  his  family  in  safety,  did  not  remain 
an  idle  spectator  while  ruin  threatened  the  infant  settlements 
on  the  head  waters  of  the  Potomac.  The  country  swarmed 
with  the  savage  guerrilleros  of  those  days,  and  the  hardy  woods- 
man, adopting  the  Indian  fashion  of  the  times,  took  "the  war 
path  "  with  his  own  band  and  children,  and  struck  the  foe  on 
several  occasions  at  the  western  feet  of  the  Savage  Mountain, 
where  his  son  Thomas  fell  by  an  Indian  ball,  and  at  Negro 
Mountain  where  a  gigantic  African,  who  belonged  to  his  party, 
bequeathed  his  name  in  death  to  the  towering  cliffs.  In  these 
fights  Michael  Cresap  obtained  Ins  first  lessons  in  Indian  warfare. 

After  these  early  border  conflicts  were  over, — although  he 
was  sometimes  afterwards  harassed  by  the  savages, — the  veteran 
pioneer  reposed  at  his  homestead,  respected  and  honored,  until 
quieter  days.  He  was  a  man  of  vigorous  mind  and  constitu- 
tion, and  although  his  early  education  had  been  neglected,  there 
are  testimonials  of  his  skill  both  in  composition,  surveying,  and 
even  hand- writing,  in  the  possession  of  our  Society  which  would 
do  honor  to  a  man  of  loftier  birth  and  opportunities. l     At  the 

1  In  the  Gilmor  MSS.  Maryland  Papers,  vol.  1,  Article  No.  8,  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society,  is  the  following  original  letter  from 
Colonel  Cresap,  in  which  we  have  an  interesting  account  of  one  of  the  Indian 
raids  in  1763.     It  is  written  in  a  firm  and  formal  hand,  and  would  do  credit  to 


20 

age  of  seventy  he  visited  England;  and,  while  in  London,  was 
commissioned  by  Lord  Baltimore  to  run  the  Western  line  of 
Maryland,  in  order  to  ascertain  which  of  the  two  branches  of 
the  Potomac  was,  in  reality,  the  fountain  head  of  the  stream. 

one  of  much  more  clerkly  reputation.  The  letter  is  thus  addressed  on  the  out- 
side: 

"On  his  Lordship's  Service: — 
To 
"His  Excellency  Horatio  Sharpe,  Esquire, 
in 
"  To  be  forwarded  by  )  Annapolis. 

Express.      ) 

and  endorsed: 
"From  Col.  Cresap,  15  July,  1763." 


"Old  Town,  July  15th,  1763. 
"May  it  Please  your  Excellency 

"  I  take  this  opportunity  in  the  highth  of  Confusion  to  acquaint  you  with 
our  unhappy  and  most  wretched  Situation  at  this  time,  being  in  Hourly  Ex- 
pectation of  being  massacred  by  our  Barberous  and  Inhumane  Enemy  the 
Indians,  we  having  been  three  days  successivly  attacked  by  them,  Viz:  the  13, 
14  and  this  Instant.  On  the  13th  as  6  men  were  shocking  some  wheat  in  the 
field  5  Indians  firing  on  them  as  they  came  to  do  it  and  others  Running  to  their 
assistance; — on  the  14th  5  Indians  crept  up  to  and  fired  on  about  16  men  who 
were  sitting  and  walking  under  a  Tree  at  the  Entrance  of  my  Lane  about  100 
yards  from  my  House,  but  on  being  fired  at  by  the  white  men,  who  much 
wounded  some  of  them,  they  Immediately  Run  off  and  were  followed  by  the 
white  men  about  a  mile  all  which  way  was  a  great  duantity  of  Blood  on  the 
Ground.  The  white  men  got  3  of  their  Bundles,  containing  sundry  Indian 
Implements  and  Goods.  About  3  Hours  after  several  guns  were  fired  in  the 
woods,  on  which  a  party  went  in  Quest  of  them  and  found  3  Braves  Killed  by 
them.  The  Indians  wounded  one  man  at  their  first  fire  tho'  but  Slightly.  On 
this  Instant  as  Mr.  Saml.  Wilder  was  going  to  a  house  of  his  about  300  yards 
Distant  from  mine  with  4  men  and  several  women,  the  Indians  rushed  on  them 
from  a  rising  Ground,  but  they  perceving  them  coming,  Run  towards  my 
House  hollowing,  which  being  heard  by  those  at  my  house,  they  run  to  their 
assistance  and  met  them  and  the  Indians  at  the  Entrance  of  my  lane,  on  which 
the  Indians  Immdiately  fired  on  them  to  the  amount  of  18  or  Twenty  and  Killed 
Mr.  Wilder; — the  party  of  white  men  Returned  their  fire  and  killed  one  of  them 
dead  on  the  Spot  and  wounded  severall  of  the  others  as  appeared  by  Consider- 
able (Quantity  of  Blood  strewed  on  the  Ground  as  they  Run  off,  which  they 
Immdiately  did,  and  by  their  leaving  behind  them  3  Gunns,  one  pistole  and 
Sundry  other  Emplements  of  warr  &c.  &c. 

"  I  have  Inclosed  a  List  of  the  Desolate  men,  Women  and  Children  who  have 
fled  to  my  house  which  is  Inclosed  by  a  small  stockade  for  safety,  by  which 
you  11  see  what  a  number  of  poor  Souls,  destitute  of  Every  necessary  of  Life 
are  here  penned  up  and  likely  to  be  Butchered  without  Immdiate  Relief  and 


21 

His  map  of  this  survey  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society,  and,  together  with  his  report,  has  been  used 
by  our  legislature  in  the  boundary  discussions  with  Virginia.1 
In  1770,  after  his  return  from  England,  George  Washington 
visited  Colonel  Cresap  at  his  "  Old  Town  settlement,"  in  order 
to  learn  the  particulars  of  the  Walpole  grant  on  the  Ohio;  and, 
as  the  future  general  of  our  armies  returned  from  his  examina- 
tion of  lands  on  the  rivers  of  the  west,  he  again  tamed  for  the 
night  in  the  humble  dwelling  of  the  old  pioneer.2  He  had, 
thus,  acquired  the  respect  and  confidence,  not  only  of  the  Lord 
Proprietor  of  this  Province,  and  of  the  clear-minded  Washington 
himself,  but  was  generally  known  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
Pennsylvania,  as  an  energetic,  far-seeing  and  hospitable  man. 
No  deed  of  needless  daring,  or  of  cruelty  is  recorded  against 
him; — even  the  Indians  who  know  his  rifle  well,  esteemed  him 
cordially.  When  Nemacolin  departed  from  the  mountains  of 
Cumberland,  he  left  his  son  in  Cresap's  care.  The  savages 
with  whom  he  had  dealt  so  fiercely  when  necessity  demanded, 

assistance,  and  can  Expect  none,  unless  from  the  province  to  which  they  Belong. 
I  shall  submitt  to  your  wiser  Judgment  the  Best  and  most  Effectual  method  for 
Such  Relief  and  shall  Conclude  with  hoping  we  shall  have  it  in  time." 

"  I  am  Honorable  Sir 

your  Obedt.  serv 

THOS.  CRESAP" 
"P.  S.  those  Indians  who  attacked  us  this  day 
are  part  of  that  body  which  went  southward  by  this  way 

spring  which  is  known  by  one  of  the  Gunns  we  got  from  them." 

"The  Maryland  Gazette"  of  July  21,  1763,  informs  us  that  the  Colonel 
was  not  yet  cut  off  by  the  savages,  though  it  is  feared  he  will  be  if  not  quickly 
relieved.  The  above  story  is  repeated.  Subsequent  statements  show  that  ten 
men  were  sent  to  assist  Cresap. 

1  In  the  Gilmor  MSS.  Maryland  Papers,  vol.  1,  Portfolio  of  "  Surveys,  letters, 
8{c.,  connected  with  the  running  of  the  Division  line  between  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania,"  is  the  original  autograph  map  made  by  Col.  Cresap,  in  the  neat  style 
of  a  good  country  surveyor,  and  sent  by  him  to  Governor  Sharpe.  It  came 
to  Mr.  Gilmor's  possession  with  many  other  of  the  "  Ridout  Papers,"  and 
is  attested  by  Horatio  Ridout,  whose  father  was  Sharpe 's  secretary.  This 
was  the  first  map  ever  made  to  show  the  course  and  fountains  of  the  north  and 
south  branches  of  the  Potomac  river,  in  regard  to  which  there  has  been  so  much 
controversy  between  Maryland  and  Virginia. 

2  Washington's  Writings,  vol.  2,  pp.  516  and  533.  Journal  of  Tour  to  the 
Ohio  river. 

4 


22 

as  they  went,  during  his  latter  years,  past  his  house  on  their 
hunting  expeditions,  were  always  welcomed  and  entertained. 
He  had  a  huge  ladle  and  kettle  prepared  expressly  to  feast  them 
with  a  whole  ox,  and  they,  in  turn  complimented  his  hospitality 
by  bestowing  on  him  the  Indian  title  of  the  "Big  Spoon."1 
At  the  age  of  eighty  he  married  a  second  time.  He  visited 
the  British  possessions,  near  Nova  Scotia,  at  100,  and  died  at 
the  age  of  106!  Such  was  the.  father  of  Captain  Michael 
Cresap,  whose  name  has  been  doomed  most  unjustly  to  infamy 
by  the  hasty  adoption  of  the  falsehood  contained  in  a  miscalled 
Indian  speech. 

Michael,  the  youngest  son  of  the  pioneer,  whose  biography 
I  have  sketched,  was  bom  in  that  part  of  Frederick,  which  is 
now  comprised  in  Alleghany  county  in  this  state,  on  the  29th 
June,  1742.  In  those  early  days  there  were  no  seminaries  of 
learning  in  that  remote  region;  and  Michael,  his  son,  was  sent 
to  a  school  in  Baltimore  County,  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Craddock.  A  wild  and  daring  mountain  boy  from  the 
wilderness,  he  had,  at  first,  but  few  friends  among  the  eastern 
boys;  yet,  with  the  usual  power  of  manly  courage  and  gener- 
osity, he  soon  fought  his  way  into  the  good  graces  of  his  school- 
mates.    But  the  restraints  of  school  life  were  uncongenial  to  his 

1  Jacob's  Life  of  Capt.  Michael  Cresap.     Cumberland,  Md.,  1828. 

The  Rev.  John  J.  Jacob,  by  whom  this  Biograghical  sketch  of  the  life  of 
Captain  Michael  Cresap  was  written,  entered  the  store  and  was  engaged  in  the 
western  trading  concerns  of  Captain  Cresap,  from  the  age  of  fifteen.  This  was 
about  the  year  1772.  He  was  entrusted  with  the  management  and  settlement 
of  valuable  ventures  sent  by  the  Captain  to  Redstone  Old  Fort  or  Brownsville, 
during  the  Indian  war  of  1774.  When  the  Revolutionary  conflict  broke  out, 
and  after  Cresap 's  death  on  the  18th  of  October,  1775,  Jacob  remained  for  a 
while  with  the  hero's  family;  but,  in  July,  1776,  he  entered  the  militia  as  an 
ensign,  and  subsequently  obtained  a  lieutenant's  commission  in  the  regular 
army  with  which  he  continued  during  five  campaigns,  until  the  winter  of  1781. 
In  this  year  he  married  the  widow  of  Capt.  Michael  Cresap,  his  old  employer; 
and  thus,  becoming  possessed  of  all  his  papers,  and  being  intimate  with  his 
motives  and  history  during  an  intimate  personal  intercourse,  he  was  fully 
enabled,  as  well  as  entitled,  to  vindicate  the  memory  of  his  departed  friend. 

Later  in  life  he  was  known  as  an  esteemed  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  who,  for  many  years,  resided,  and  finally  died,  as  a  local  minister  in 
Hampshire  County,  Virginia. 


habits;  and  flying  from  his  preceptor,  he  traversed  alone  the  140 
miles  which  lay  between  him  and  his  home.  The  old  Colonel, 
however,  did  not  sanction  the  restive  demeanor  of  the  truant, 
but  believing  in  the  virtue  of  the  rod  and  the  necessity  of  filial 
obedience  as  well  as  education,  flogged  him  severely,  and  sent 
him  back  to  his  teacher,  with  whom  he  steadily  remained  until 
his  studies  were  finished. 

Soon  after  leaving  school,  he  married  a  Miss  Whitehead,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  the  happy  pair,  both  almost  children,  departed 
to  the  mountains  to  enjoy,  as  the  romantic  striplings  probably 
supposed,  alove  in  a  cottage"  in  a  little  frontier  village  near 
his  father's  dwelling  among  the  hills.  But  the  Colonel  would 
not  countenance  a  life  of  idleness,  and  established  Michael  at 
once  as  a  merchant  and  trader.  Trade,  in  those  days  and  neigh- 
borhoods, was  often  a  perilous  business  in  the  hands  of  inexpe- 
rienced men.  And  young  Cresap,  who  imported  largely  from 
London,  and  dealt  with  the  utmost  liberality,  so  often  found  his 
confidence  misplaced,  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  he 
became  almost  ruined.  Notwithstanding  his  kindness  and  hon- 
orable deportment,  he  seems  to  have  had  enemies,  or  at  least 
extremely  cautious  watchers  of  his  acts.  The  agent  of  the 
London  merchant  from  whom  he  received  his  goods  in  America, 
reported  to  his  principal  in  England,  that  Michael  was  a  suspi- 
cious character,  and  might  probably  remove  to  some  part  of  the 
western  wilds  where  he  would  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the  law. 
The  consequence  of  this  report  was  the  immediate  withdrawal 
of  the  young  trader's  customary  supplies;  but,  as  soon  as  Michael 
was  able  to  trace  the  slander  to  its  source,  he  charged  it  home 
upon  the  London  agent  and  the  controversy  ended  in  a  violent 
personal  conflict  in  a  private  room  in  Fredericktown. 

Cresap  was  thus  compelled,  both  by  the  blow  which  his  credit 
had  received  and  his  bitter  experience  among  his  customers,  to 
curtail  his  business.  Yet  hope  did  not  desert  him.  The  popu- 
lation which  had  gathered  around  this  frontier  settlement,  began, 
under  the  temptations  of  the  west  to  flow  off'  towards  the  Ohio. 
His  active  temper  and  prompt  mind  soon  decided  him.  "  Urged 
by  necessity,  prompted  by  a  laudable  ambition,  and  allured  by 
the  rational  and  exhilarating  prospect  before  him,  he  saw  or 


24 

thought  he  saw,  in  the  rich  bottoms  of  the  Ohio,  an  ample 
fund,  if  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  title  to  those  lands,  not 
only  to  redeem  his  credit  and  extricate  him  from  difficulty,  but 
also  to  afford  a  respectable  competency  for  his  rising  family. 

"  Under  this  impression,  and  with  every  rational  prospect  of 
success,  early  in  the  year  1774,  he  engaged  six  or  seven  ac- 
tive young  men,  at  the  rate  of  ^2.10  per  month,  and  repair- 
ing to  the  wilderness  of  the  Ohio,  commenced  the  business  of 
building  houses  and  clearing  lands;  and,  being  one  of  first,  or, 
among  the  first  adventurers  into  this  exposed  and  dangerous 
region,  he  was  enabled  to  select  some  of  the  best  and  richest  of 
the  Ohio  levels."1 

After  the  Indian  and  French  wars  and  the  treaty  made  by 
Bouquet,  the  attention  of  the  Maryland,  Virginia  and  Pennsyl- 
vania settlers,  had  been  attracted  to  the  great  trans- Alleghanian 
region  watered  by  the  Monongahela,  the  Ohio,  the  Kenhawa, 
the  Scioto,  the  Cheat  and  their  affluents.  Companies  had  been 
formed  and  lands  granted.  The  outposts,  or  scouts  and  pickets 
of  civilization,  were  fixed  along  these  streams.  Fort  Du  Quesne 
had  become  Fort  Pitt,  under  the  British  flag.  Wheeling  was 
a  station;  and,  all  along  the  river,  there  were  spots  where 
traders  and  fanners  had  settled,  or  neighborhoods  gathered 
for  mutual  protection  around  block-houses,  forts  and  stockades. 
In  this  society,  laudably  engaged  in  repairing  his  fortune  and 
preparing  that  of  his  infant  family,  I  shall  leave  Michael  Cresap 
early  in  the  year  1774,  and  endeavor  to  transport  you  in  imagi- 
nation for  a  short  time  to  another  and  perhaps  more  romantic 
scene  among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Susquehannah. 

Indian  history,  and  especially  Indian  Biography  must  always 
resemble  the  pictorial  sketches  of  the  Indians  themselves,  who, 
by  a  few  rude  etchings  on  a  rock,  a  few  bold  dashes  on  the  skin 
of  a  buffalo,  or  scratches  on  the  bark  of  a  birch-tree,  record 
the  outline  memoranda  which  may  serve  to  recall  an  event 
though  they  can  only  commemorate  a  character  b^inferences. 

'  Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  p.  41. 


25 

Their  story  is  but  a  skeleton;  and  hard,  indeed,  is  the  task 
which  attempts  to  clothe  the  dry  and  dusty  bones  with  flesh, 
and  to  make  the  restored  being  move  at  least  with  the  semblance 
of  real  life.  Their  theatre  is  the  forest.  Their  home  a  camp. 
Their  only  architecture  a  cabin  or  a  perishable  tent.  Their 
only  permanent  and  consecrated  resting  place — the  grave  !  A 
wild,  solitary  and  dangerous  people, — almost  without  a  record, — 
they  flit  like  shadows  through  the  wilderness  of  wood,  prairie 
and  mountain; — now  here,  now  gone  in  the  dim  recesses  of  the 
valleys; — free  as  the  deer,  or  transient  as  phantoms  of  mingled 
romance  and  honor;  but,  most  generally,  inscribing  their  wild 
red  marks  in  the  memory  of  white  men  by  deeds  of  cruelty  and 
blood  alone! 

In  the  early  days  of  Pennsylvania  the  Valley  of  the  Susque- 
hannah  was  assigned  by  the  Six  Nations  as  a  hunting  ground 
for  the  Shawanese,  Conoys,  Nanticokes,  Monseys,  and  Mohi- 
cans; and  Shikellamy,  or  as  he  was  called  by  the  Moravians, 
Shikellemus,  a  celebrated  Cayuga  Chief  sent  by  those  Nations 
to  preside  over  a  tribe,  dwelt  at  Shamokin,  an  Indian  village 
of  about  fifty  houses  and  nearly  three  hundred  persons,  built 
on  the  broad  level  banks  of  the  Susquehannah,  on  a  beautiful 
site,  with  high  ranges  of  hills  both  above  and  below  it,  affording 
magnificent  views  of  the  picturesque  valley  in  whose  lap  the 
modern  Sunbury  is  quietly  nestled. 

When  Count  Zinzendorf,  on  the  28th  of  September,  1742, 
accompanied  by  Conrad  Weiser,  two  Indians,  brother  Mack  and 
his  missionary  wife,  after  a  tedious  transit  through  the  wilderness 
on  their  journey  of  Christian  love,  entered  this  beautiful  vale  of 
Shamokin,  Shikellamy  was  the  first  to  step  forth  to  welcome 
them,  and,  after  the  exchange  of  presents,  to  promise  his  aid  as 
a  chief  in  fostering  the  religion  of  Christ  among  the  tribe.8  But 
when  David  Brainerd  visited  the  Indian  village,  three  years 
after,  he  found  that  the  seed  dropped  by  the  holy  Moravians 
had  fallen  on  barren  places.      He  was   kindly  received   and 


1  Compare  Minutes  of  Council,  Aug.   12,  1731,  Brainerd's  Journal — and 
Loskiel,  part  2d,  p.  10.  2  Loskiel. 


26 

entertained  by  the  Indians,  yet  neither  his  requests  nor  the  illness 
of  one  of  the  tribe  could  induce  them  to  forego  their  wild  and 
noisy  revels.  "Alas!" — exclaims  the  Journalist, — " how  desti- 
tute of  natural  affection  are  these  poor  uncultivated  pagans, 
" although  they  seem  kind  in  their  own  way!  Of  a  truth,  the 
"  dark  corners  of  the  earth  are  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty. 
"*****  The  Indians  of  this  place  are  accounted  the  most 
"  drunken,  mischievous,  and  ruffian  like  fellows  in  these  parts; 
"  and  Satan  seems  to  have  his  seat  in  this  town  in  an  eminent 
"manner!"  1 

The  Six  Nations  used  Shamokin  as  a  convenient  tarrying 
place  for  their  war  parties  against  the  southern  Catawbas;  and, 
soon  after  the  missionaries  visited  them,  were  desirous  to  have 
a  blacksmith  from  the  white  settlements,  who  would  reside  per- 
manently in  their  village,  and  save  their  long  journeys  from  the 
mountains  to  Tulpehocken  or  Philadelphia.  The  Governor  of 
the  Province  allowed  the  request,  provided  the  smith  should 
continue  only  as  long  as  the  Indians  remained  friendly  to  the 
English;  and  the  Moravians,  availing  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity, despatched  a  staunch  brother  named  Anthony  Schmidt, 
from  their  mission  at  Bethlehem,  who,  doubtless,  in  the  inter- 
vals of  his  business  from  repairing  the  savages'  rifles,  was  ena- 
bled, as  an  antidote,  to  edify  them  with  a  sermon  on  the  hor- 
rors of  war.  The  blacksmith,  however,  opened  the  way  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Moravian  mission  at  Shamokin  in  1747, 
under  the  charge  of  Brother  Mack.  Bishop  Camerhoff  and 
the  pious  Zeisberger,  visited  it  in  1748;  and,  in  the  following 
year,  Shikellamy — this  apparently  virtuous  chief  over  so  bois- 
terous, drunken,  and  roystering  a  tribe, — a  man  who  is  reported 
to  have  performed  many  embassies  between  the  government  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  Six  Nations,  as  well  as  attended  important 
councils  at  Philadelphia,  departed  for  the  Indian  "hunting 
grounds"  which  he  in  the  pleasant  prairies  of  the  "spirit  land" 
beyond  the  grave. 

1  Brainerd's  Journal.    Day's  Penn.  Hist.  Col.  525. 

*  Conrad  Weiser,  a  chief  officer  in  the  Indian  Department  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  Moravians  seem  to  have  had  great  confidence  in  Shikellamy,  and  prob- 
ably he  died  a  sincere  friend  of  the  whites  and  a  tolerable  Christian.     For  an 


27 

Of  this  personage, — thus  reared  in  a  sort  of  modified  fear, 
love,  or  admiration  of  the  whites,  and  in  the  midst  of  exces- 
sively bad  associates,  as  described  by  Brainerd,  was  born  a 
second  son,  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  our  country  by  the  spicy 
rhetoric  of  a  speech  which  first  attracted  the  attention  of  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  has  since  been  repeated  by  every  American  school 
boy  as  a  specimen  of  Indian  eloquence  and  Indian  wrongs. 

After  Braddock's  defeat  in  1755,  the  whole  wilderness  from 
the  Juniata  to  Shamokin,  and  from  the  Ohio  to  Baltimore  Town, 
was  filled  with  hostile  Indian  parties, — murdering,  scalping, 
destroying  and  burning.  I  have  not  time  to  notice  the  breaking 
up  of  the  mission  at  Shamokin  and  slaughter  of  the  inoffensive 
whites  throughout  the  neighborhood,  in  which  all  those  mis- 
called friendly  tribes  were  concerned  as  soon  as  they  were 
encouraged  by  the  successes  of  the  French  and  the  disasters  of 
of  the  English.  Their  former  professed  Christianity,  or  the  for- 
bearance of  their  chiefs,  had,  in  all  likelihood,  been  the  effect 
of  sudden  superstition  or  of  salutary  fear. 1 

During  this  epoch  the  son  of  Shikellamy, — Logan, — who 
had  been  named  it  is  said  for  the  secretary  of  the  province  whom 
his  father  knew  and  loved,2 — disappears  from  the  scene.  We 
have  few  historical  or  biographical  anecdotes  of  his  early  life,  nor 
does  he  in  fact  become  the  subject  even  of  legend  until  seven- 
teen or  eighteen  years  after  his  father's  death.3 

The  Juniata  breaking  through  the  wild  gap  of  Jack's  moun- 
tain, enters  the  south-western  end  of  Mifflin  county,  Pennsyl- 

account  of  his  death  and  character,  see  Day's  Penn.  Hist.  Col.  526.  Loskiel. 
Rev.  J.  Heckwelder's  statement,  appendix  No.  IV  to  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia, p.  40. 

1  Voyage  dans  la  Haute  Pensylvanie,  Tome  3,  chapitre  iv. 

2  James  Logan,  the  secretary,  died  in  1751. 

3  Some  early  notices  of  the  sons  of  Shikellamy  and  their  deeds  may  be  found 
in  the  following  writers:  Rupp's  History  of  Dauphin,  Cumberland,  Franklin, 
&c,  counties,  Pa.,  pp.  65,  319,  84,  259,  100,  316.  Also  Rupp's  History  of 
Northumberland  County,  pp.  92,  119,  166.  Rupp's  History  of  Berks  and 
Lebanon  Counties,  Pa.,  213,  41,  39.  Rupp's  History  of  Northampton, 
Lehigh,  &c,  Counties,  Pa.,  p.  103.  Kercheval's  Valley  of  Va.,  p.  127.  Lou- 
don's Narratives  of  Indian  wars,  vol.  2,  p.  223;  this  passage  describes  Logan's 
personal  appearance  in  1765,  and  recounts  an  anecdote  or  two. 


28 

vania,  and  meandering  through  Lewistown  valley,  again  strikes 
the  mountains  at  the  romantic  gorge  of  the  Long  Narrows, 
between  the  Black  Log  and  Shade  mountains,  at  a  cleft  barely 
wide  enough  for  the  river  to  pass,  and,  at  its  end,  the  stream 
breaks  through  the  rocky  masses  of  Shade  mountain.  Kishico- 
quillas  creek  is  a  never  failing  flood  in  tins  romantic  neighbor- 
hood, fed  by  the  mountain  springs  surrounding  a  valley  out  of 
which  it  bursts  at  a  deep  ravine  in  Jack's  mountain,  and  enters 
the  Juniata  at  Lewistown.  Early  settlements  had  been  made 
in  this  attractive  region,  but  when  the  Indian  troubles  broke  out, 
the  inhabitants  fled,  nor  was  it  until  the  years  between  1765 
and  1769,  that  they  began  to  return,  and,  about  that  period, 
Judge  Brown,  Samuel  Milliken,  McNitt,  James  Reed  and 
Samuel  McClay,  became  the  earliest  dwellers  in  the  charming 
vale  of  Kishicoquillas. 

About  a  mile  or  two  above  the  deep  and  tangled  dell  where 
the  stream  passes  Jack's  mountain,  beside  a  beautiful  limestone 
spring,  at  a  spot  which  wras  as  solitary  as  it  was  romantic,  an 
Indian  cabin  had  been  built  for  many  years.  As  William  Brown 
and  James  Reed,  two  of  the  pioneers  whom  I  have  named  as 
early  occupants  of  this  region,  had  wandered  one  day  out  of 
the  valley  in  search  of  choice  locations  and  springs,  they  sud- 
denly started  a  bear,  and,  like  all  foresters,  being  provided  with 
their  rifles,  immediately  gave  chase.  A  shot  speedily  wounded 
the  brute,  which  retreating  to  the  higher  ground,  led  them 
onward  in  quest  of  their  prey,  until,  suddenly,  this  beautiful 
spring,  gushing  from  the  hill-side,  burst  upon  their  sight.  Ex- 
hausted by  a  long  and  tedious  hunt,  the  woodsmen  were  more 
delighted  to  find  the  stream  than  the  game,  and  immediately 
resting  their  rifles  against  trees,  threw  themselves  on  the  ground 
to  drink.  But  as  Brown  bent  over  the  clear  and  mirroring  water 
he  beheld,  on  theopposide  side,  reflected  in  the  limpid  basin  the 
tall  shadow  of  a  stately  Indian!  With  instinctive  energy  he 
sprang  to  regain  his  weapon  while  the  Indian  yelled — whether 
for  peace  or  war  he  was  unable  to  determine; — but  as  he  seized 
his  rifle  and  faced  the  foe,  the  savage  dashed  open  the  pan  of 
his  gun,  and  scattering  the  powder,  extended  his  open  palm  in 
token  of  friendship.     Botfi  weapons  were  yistantly  grounded,  ■ 


29 

and  the  men  who  a  moment  before  had  looked  on  each  other 
with  distrust,  shook  hands  and  refreshed  themselves  from  the 
gurgling  brook.  For  a  week  they  continued  together  examin- 
ing lands,  seeking  springs,  and  cementing  a  friendship  which 
had  been  so  strangely  commenced  at  a  period  when  "whoever 
saw  an  Indian  saw  an  enemy,  and  the  only  questions  that  were 
asked,  on  either  side  were,  from  the  muzzles  of  their  rifles. " 

The  Indian  vision  of  the  spring  was  Logan — the  son  of 
Shikellamy, — the  solitary  Indian; — no  chief,  but  a  wanderer 
sojourning  for  a  while  on  his  way  to  the  west.1 

Logan  is  well  remembered  and  favorably  described  in  the 
legends  of  this  valley,  for  he  was  often  visited  in  his  camp  by 
the  whites.  Upon  one  occasion,  when  met  by  Mr.  McClay  at 
the  spring  which  is  even  now  known  by  his  name,  a  match  was 
made  between  the  white  and  red  man  to  shoot  at  a  mark  for  a 
dollar  a  shot.2  In  the  encounter,  Logan  lost  four  or  five  rounds, 
and  acknowledged  himself  beaten.  When  the  whites  were 
leaving  the  dell,  the  Indian  went  to  his  cabin,  and  bringing  as 
many  deer  skins  as  he  had  lost  dollars,  handed  them  to  Mr. 
McClay,  who  refused  the  peltries,  alleging  that  he  and  his 
friends  had  been  Logan's  guests,  and  would  not  rob  him,  for 
the  match  had  merely  been  a  friendly  contest  of  skill  and  nerve. 
But  the  courteous  waiver  would  not  satisfy  the  savage.  He 
drew  himself  up  with  great  dignity,  and  said  in  broken  English: 
f*  Me  bet  to  make  you  shoot  your  best; — me  gentleman,  and 
me  take  your  dollars  if  me  beat!"  So  McClay  was  obliged  to 
take  the  skins  or  affront  his  friend  whose  sense  of  honorable 
dealing  would  not  allow  him  to  receive  even  a  horn  of  powder 
in  return.3 

Deer  hunting,  dressing  their  skins  and  selling  them  to  the 
whites  seem  to  have  been  the  chief  employments  of  Logan  at 
this  period,  and  the  means  of  his  livelihood.  Upon  one  occa- 
sion he  had  sold  a  quantity  to  a  certain  tailor  named  De  Yong, 

1  Day's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Penn.  464  et.  seq.  Pittsburgh  Daily  American,  1842. 
American  Pioneer,  vol.  1,  p.  188. 

2  Day's  Coll.  ut  supra,  466,  for  a  description  of  the  site  of  this  spring. 

3  Letter  of  R.  P.  McClay  in  Pittsburgh  Daily  American  of  1842,  and  in 
Penn.  Hist.  Coll.  by  Day,  467.    American  Pioneer,  i,  114,  115,  188. 

5 


30 

who  dwelt  in  Furguson's  valley  below  the  gap.  Buckskin 
small  clothes  were  in  those  days  in  demand  among  the  frontier 
men  .as  well  as  among  the  soldiers  or  fops  of  the  cities,  and 
when  silver  or  paper  money  was  scarce,  barter  was  the  customary 
mode  of  trade  in  those  simple  communities.  Logan,  according 
to  agreement,  received  his  pay  from  the  tailor  in  wheat,  which, 
when  taken  to  the  mill,  was  found  so  worthless  that  the  miller 
refused  to  grind  it.  But  law  and  the  ministers  of  justice,  had 
already  found  their  way  into  the  secluded  valley,  and  the  Indian 
appealed  to  his  friend  Brown,  who  by  this  time  had  been  hon- 
ored with  the  commission  of  a  magistrate.  When  the  judge 
questioned  him  as  to  the  character  of  the  fraudulent  grain, 
Logan  sought  in  vain  to  find  words  to  express  the  precise  char- 
acter of  the  material  with  which  it  was  adulterated,  but  said  it 
resembled  the  wheat  itself.  "It  must  have  been  cheat"  said 
the  Judge.  "Yoh!"  exclaimed  the  Indian,  "  that's  very  good 
name  for  him!"  and  forthwith  a  decision  wTas  given  in  Logan's 
favor  and  a  writ  presented  for  the  constable,  which,  he  was  told, 
would  produce  the  money  for  his  buckskins.  But  the  untutored 
Indian, — too  uncivilized  to  be  dishonest, — could  not  comprehend 
by  what  magic  this  fragment  of  paper  would  force  the  reluctant 
tailor,  against  his  will,  to  pay  for  the  skins.  The  Judge  took 
down  his  commission  emblazoned  with  the  royal  anns,  and  ex- 
plained the  first  principles  and  operations  of  civil  law,  after  which 
Logan  appeared  to  be  better  satisfied  with  the  gentle  operation 
of  judicial  process,  and  departed  to  try  its  effect  in  his  own 
behalf,  exclaiming — "law  very  good  if  it  make  rogues  pay!" 
When  one  of  Judge  Brown's  daughters  was  just  beginning 
to  walk,  her  mother  expressed  sorrow  that  she  could  not  obtain 
a  pair  of  shoes  to  give  more  firmness  to  her  infant  steps.  Logan 
stood  by  but  said  nothing.  Soon  after  he  asked  Mrs.  Brown  to 
allow  the  little  girl  to  spend  the  day  at  his  cabin  near  the  spring. 
The  cautious  and  yearning  heart  of  the  mother  was  somewhat 
alarmed  by  the  proposal,  yet  she  had  learned  to  repose  confidence 
in  the  Indian,  and  trusting  in  the  delicacy  of  his  feelings, 
assented  to  the  proposal  with  apparent  cheerfulness.  The  day 
wore  slowly  away,  and  it  was  near  night  when  her  little  one 
had  not  returned.     But  just  as  the  sun  was  setting  the  trusty 


31 

savage  was  seen  descending  the  path  witli  his  charge,  and  in  a 
moment  more  the  little  one  was  in  its  mother's  arms,  proudly 
exhibiting  on  her  tiny  feet  a  pair  of  beautiful  moccasins — the 
product  of  Logan's  skill.1 

I  have  dwelt,  perhaps  tediously,  upon  these  simple  incidents 
of  Indian  and  frontier  life  because  they  are  the  only  ones  I  have 
been  able  to  glean  from  the  brief  records  of  Logan's  career, 
that  exhibit  him  to  posterity  in  a  favorable  light.  His  lot  was 
soon  to  be  changed.  The  lonely — simple — and  perhaps  senti- 
mental savage  was  shortly  to  come  in  violent  conflict  with  the 
whites  who  were  "  extending  the  area  of  freedom," — and  the 
rest  of  his  life  was  chequered  with  horrible  crimes  and  maudlin 
regrets,  dark  enough  to  efface  the  gentle  deeds  of  his  early  years. 
According  to  the  statement  of  Judge  Brown,  Logan  departed  to 
the  far  west  soon  after  the  occurrences  I  have  recounted,  and  he 
never  saw  him  more;  but,  in  the  language  of  the  cordial  old 
pioneer,  "  he  was  the  best  specimen  of  humanity,  white  or  red, 
he  ever  encountered." 

For  a  while,  again,  the  curtain  drops  on  our  Indian  legend, 
and  the  savage  disappears  behind  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  nor 
do  we  find  his  trail  once  more  until  the  Rev.  Mr.  Heckwelder, 
when  living  as  a  missionary  at  the  Moravian  town  on  the  Beaver 
about  the  year  1772,  four  or  five  years  after  the  events  we  have 
just  narrated,  was  introduced  by  an  Indian  in  that  neighborhood 
to  Logan  as  the  son  of  the  old  Shikellamy,  the  friend  of  the 
white  men  and  Moravians  at  Shamokin.  The  savage  impressed 
the  missionary  as  a  person  of  talents  superior  to  Indians  gener- 
ally. He  exclaimed  against  the  whites  for  the  introduction  of 
spirituous  liquors  among  his  people; — spoke  of  "gentlemen" 
and  their  true  character,  regretting  that  the  tribes  had  unfortu- 
nately so  few  of  this  class  for  neighbors;  declared  his  intention 
to  settle  on  the  Ohio  below  Big  Beaver,  where  he  might  live 
in  peace  forever  with  the  white  men,  but  confessed  to  the 

MISSIONARY  HIS  UNFORTUNATE  FONDNESS  FOR  THE  u  FIRE- 
WATER."    At  that  time  Logan  was  encamped  at  the  mouth  of 

1  Narrative  of  Mrs.  Norris,  in  Day's  Perm.  Hist.  Coll.'467. 


32 

Beaver,  and  in  1773,  when  Heckwelder  was  journeying  down 
the  Ohio  towards  Muskingham  he  visited  the  Indian's  settlement, 
and  received  every  civility  he  could  expect  from  the  members  of 
his  family  who  were  at  home.1 

It  was  about  this  time  that  another  Missionary,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
David  McClure,  during  a  visit  to  Fort  Pitt  and  the  neighboring 
regions  of  the  Ohio,  met  our  hero,  and  saw  many  other  Indians 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  the  settlements  for  the  sake 
of  a  drunken  frolic,  staggering  about  the  town.2  At  that  time 
Logan  was  still  remarkable  for  the  grandeur  of  his  personal 
appearance.  Tah-gah-jute3  or  "Short  Dress,"  for  such  was 
his  Indian  name,  stood  several  inches  more  than  six  feet  in 
height;  he  was  straight  as  an  arrow;  lithe,  athletic,  and  sym- 
metrical in  figure;  firm,  resolute,  and  commanding  in  fea- 
ture; but  the  brave,  open,  and  manly  countenance  he  pos- 
sessed in  his  earlier  years  was  now  changed  for  one  of  martial 
ferocity.4  After  tarrying  and  preaching  nearly  three  weeks  at 
Fort  Pitt,  Dr.  McClure,  in  the  summer  or  autumn  of  1772, 
set  out  for  Muskingham  accompanied  by  a  Christian  Indian  as 
his  interpreter.  The  second  day  after  his  departure,  the  way- 
farers unexpectedly  encountered  Logan.  Painted  and  equipped 
for  war,  and  accompanied  by  another  savage,  he  lurked  a  few 
rods  from  the  path  beneath  a  tree,  leaning  on  his  rifle;  nor  did 
the  missionary  notice  him  until  apprized  by  the  interpreter  that 
Logan  desired  to  speak  with  him.  McClure  immediately  rode 
to  the  spot  where  the  red  man  remained,  and  asked  what  he 
required.  For  a  moment  Logan  stood  pale  and  agitated  before 
the  preacher,  and  then,  pointing  to  his  breast,  exclaimed: — "I 
"feel  bad  here.  Wherever  I  go  the  evil  Manethoes  pursue 
"me.  If  I  go  into  my  cabin,  my  cabin  is  full  of  devils.  If  I 
u  go  into  the  woods,  the  trees  and  the  air  are  full  of  devils.    They 

1  Appendix  No.  IV  to  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia.  46. 

2Wheelock's  Narrative,  1772-73,  p.  50. 

3  "The  aged  Seneca,  Captain  Decker,  told  me  that  Logan's  Indian  name  was 
Tah-gah-jute  or  Short  Dress,  and  added  that  'he  was  a  very  bad  Indian.'" — 
Lyman  C.  Draper,  JV/S.  note. 

4 Compare  Loudon's  Nar.  Indian  Wars,  vol.  2,  p.  223,  and  McClure  and 
Parish's  Memoirs  of  Rev.  Dr.  Eleazer  Wheelock,  Newburyport,  1811,  p.  139. 
Loudon  describes  him  about  1765, — McClure  in  1772. 


33 

"  haunt  me  by  day  and  by  night.  They  seem  to  want  to  catch 
"me,  and  throw  me  into  a  deep  pit,  full  of  fire!"  In  this 
moody  strain  of  abrupt,  maudlin  musing, — with  the  unnatural 
pallor  still  pervading  his  skin, — he  leant  for  awhile  on  his  rifle, 
and  continued  to  brood  over  the  haunting  devils.  At  length  he 
broke  forth  with  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  missionary  as  to  "  what 
he  should  do?"  Dr.  McClure  gave  him  sensible  and  friendly 
advice  suggested  by  the  occasion;  counselled  him  to  reflect  on 
his  past  life;  considered  him  as  weighed  down  by  remorse  for 
the  errors  or  cruelties  of  past  years,  and  exhorted  him  to  that 
sincere  penitence  and  prayer  which  would  drive  from  him  the 
"  evil  Manethoes  "  forever.1 

The  holy  man  departed  on  his  pious  mission,  nor  did  he  ever 
hear  of  the  Indian  again  until  after  the  bloody  deeds  which  will 
be  hereafter  recounted.  The  "  fire-water ' '  of  the  "  white  man '  \ 
had  begun  to  do  its  deadly  work  upon  all  the  elements  of  a 
noble  character  in  the  heart  and  mind  of  the  untutored  savage. 

I  must  again  shift  the  scenery  of  our  stage  and  return  once 
more  to  our  Maryland  settler  and  his  band  who  had  gone  out 
early  in  the  spring  of  1774,  although  it  is  unquestionable  that 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties  as  a  pioneer  trader,  he  had 
previously  visited  that  region  for  the  joint  purposes  of  locating 
land  and  carrying  on  commerce. 

On  an  elevated  and  commanding  bank  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Monongahela  about  seventy  miles  above  Pittsburgh,  there  were 
at  that  period  the  remains  of  one  of  those  Ancient  Works, 
which,  in  consequence  of  the  military  skill  displayed  in  the 
selection  of  their  site,  and  arrangement  of  their  walls  or  para- 
pets, have  been  regarded  as  Indian  forts.  They  are  among  the 
evidences  of  the  supposed  civilization  of  the  races  who  inhabited 
the  western  valleys,  anterior  to  the  present  tribes,  and  of  whom 
even  the  legends  are  lost.  On  the  north-west  of  the  one  at 
present  under  consideration,  the  river  Monongahela  rushed  along 
the  base  of  the  hill;  on  the  north-east  and  south  were  deep 

1  Wheelock's  Memoirs,  ut  antea,  p.  139,  &c.  I  am  indebted  for  this  reference 
and  anecdote  to  my  friend  Lyman  C.  Draper,  who  has  kindly  furnished  it  to 
me  in  MS. 


34 

ravines,  while,  on  the  east,  a  flat  was  spread  out  across  which  an 
approach  could  easily  be  detected.  Several  acres  were  enclosed 
within  the  works,  and  hard  by  were  springs  of  excellent  water. 

This  is  the  site  of  the  town  of  Brownsville,  the  head  of  the 
present  steam  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  nearest  the 
eastern  mountains, — and  the  spot,  even  at  that  early  day  to  which 
the  main  trail  over  the  Alleghanies  had  been  directed.  It  became 
an  attractive  place  to  the  whites  as  it  had  evidently  been  to  the 
savages,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  ingenious  works  with  which 
they  fortified  it.  This  post,  known  in  border  history  as  "  Red- 
Stone  Old  Fort,"  became  the  rallying  point  of  the  pioneers  and 
was  familiar  to  many  an  early  settler  as  his  place  of  embarkation 
for  the  u  dark  and  bloody  ground."  In  the  legends  of  the  west 
Michael  Cresap,  whom  we  left,  to  sketch  the  biography  of 
Logan,  is  connected  with  this  Indian  strong-hold.  In  those 
narratives  Cresap  is  spoken  of  as  remarkable  for  his  brave, 
hardy,  and  adventurous  disposition,  and  awarded  credit  for  often 
rescuing  the  whites  by  a  timely  notice  of  the  savages'  approach, 
a  knowledge  of  which  he  obtained  by  unceasing  vigilance  over 
their  movements.  This  fort  was  frequently  Cresap 's  rendezvous 
as  a  trader,  and  thither  he  resorted  with  his  people  either  to  inter- 
change views  and  adopt  plans  for  future  action,  or  for  repose 
in  quieter  times  when  the  red  men  were  lulled  into  inaction  and 
the  tomahawk  and  the  scalping  knife  were  temporarily  buried. 
These  were  periods  of  great  conviviality.  The  days  were  spent 
in  athletic  exercises;  and,  in  the  evening,  the  sturdy  foresters, 
bivouacked  around  a  fire  of  huge  logs,  recounted  their  hair- 
breadth adventures,  or  if,  perchance,  a  violin  or  jewsharp  was 
possessed  by  the  foresters  it  was  sometimes  introduced  and  the 
monotony  of  the  camp  broken  by  a  boisterous  "stag-dance." 

The  scrutinizing  mind  of  Cresap,  discovered  at  that  early  day, 
that  this  location  would  become  exceedingly  valuable  as  emigrants 
flowed  in  and  the  country  was  gradually  opened.  Accordingly 
he  took  measures  to  secure  a  Virginia  title  to  several  hundred 
acres,  embracing  the  fortification,  by  what,  at  that  time,  was 
called  a  " toma/iawk  improvement."  Not  content,  however, 
with  "girdling"  a  few  trees  and  "blazing"  others,  he  deter- 
mined to  ensure  his  purpose;  and,  in  order  that  his  act  and 


35 

intention  might  not  be  misconstrued,  lie  built  a  house  of  hewed 
logs  with  a  shingle  roof  nailed  on,  which  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  edifice  of  this  kind  in  that  part  of  our  great 
domain  west  of  the  mountains.  We  are  not  possessed  of  data 
to  fix  the  precise  year  of  this  novel  erection,  but  it  is  supposed 
to  have  occurred  about  the  year  1770;  and  the  title  to  the  pro- 
perty was  retained  in  the  Cresap  family  for  many  years,  but 
was  finally  disposed  of  to  the  brothers  Thomas  and  Basil  Brown 
who  had  emigrated  from  Maryland.1 

We  now  approach  the  final  scene  of  our  dramatic  sketch  in 
the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  Cresap,  in  his  last  expedition  to  the 
west,  had  departed  from  Maryland,  as  I  have  already  related, 
early  in  1774,  in  order  to  open  farms  on  the  river,  and  was 
acompanied  by  hired  laborers.  But  an  Indian  war  was  soon 
to  break  out,  which,  in  the  history  of  the  west,  is  sometimes 
known  under  the  name  of  this  Marylander,  as  "  Cresap's  war," 
and  sometimes  under  that  of  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  who  was  then 
Governor  of  Virginia.  Yet,  this  savage  conflict,  in  which  the 
Earl  commanded  the  Virginians,  and  Cornstalk,  a  Shawanese 
chief  led  the  Indians,  had  probably  a  very  different  origin  from 
that  which  we  shall  hereafter  see  was  erroneously  ascribed  to  it, 
and  in  which  Michael  Cresap  was  unjustly  supposed  to  have 
acted  so  bloody  a  part. 

During  the  ten  years  subsequent  to  the  treaty  made  by  Bou- 
quet, the  gradual  advance  of  the  whites  to  the  west  had  been  a 
constant  source  of  alarm  to  the  Indians.  There  was  no  ac- 
knowledged boundary  between  the  races.  Every  year  brought 
them  nearer  and  nearer  in  mingling  confusion.  Collisions  and 
violent  disputes  were  the  natural  and  necessary  results.  Crimi- 
nation and  recrimination  followed.  The  white  man  introduced 
his  "  fire-water,"  and  the  Indian  learned  to  love  its  wild  deli- 
rium, nor  did  he  regret  the  mad  revels  and  even  the  murders  in 
which  he  participated  while  under  its  terrible  influence.  The 
savage  and  the  settler  constantly  encountered  each  other  with 

1  MS.  of  James  L.  Bowman,  published  in  the  American  Pioneer  in  1843. 
And  subsequently  reprinted  in  Day's  Penn.  Hist.  Coll.  p.  342,  et  seq. 


36 

mutual  distrust.  The  town  and  the  farm  were  to  rise  and  spread 
out  over  the  "  war  path"  and  the  "hunting  ground."  The 
slow,  eager,  resistless  encroachments  of  civilization,  brought  the 
two  uncongenial  and  incongruous  races,  face  to  face,  in  contact, 
and  the  slightest  breath  was  sufficient  to  fan  into  conflagration 
the  fire  that  smouldered  in  the  hearts  of  each. 

Besides  this,  there  had  been  no  scrupulous  fulfilment  of  Bou- 
quet's treaty  on  the  part  of  the  Indians;  and  I  am  informed  by 
one  of  our  ablest  border  historians  and  scholars,  that  during  these 
ten  years  of  nominal  peace,  but  in  truth,  of  quasi  war,  more 
lives  were  sacrificed  along  the  western  frontiers  than  during  the 
whole  outbreak  of  1774,  including  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant. ' 

In  order  that  I  may  not  be  supposed  to  allege  these  Indian 
exasperations  carelessly,  I  will  state, — as  I  believe  it  to  be  un- 
questionable history, — that  the  Shawanese,  failing  to  comply 
with  the  treaty  of  1764,  did  not  deliver  their  white  captives,  and 
barely  acquiesced,  sullenly,  in  some  articles  of  the  compact,  by 
command  of  the  six  nations.  The  Red-Hawk,  a  Shawanese2 
chief,  insulted  Colonel  Bouquet  with  impunity,  and  an  Indian 
killed  the  Colonel's  servant  on  the  next  day  after  peace  was 
made.  This  wanton  murder  being  passed  unnoticed  at  the 
time,  gave  rise  immediately  to  several  daring  outrages. 

In  the  following  year  individuals  were  slain  by  the  savages  on 
JNew  River,  and  soon  after;  some  men  employed  in  the  service 
of  Wharton's  company  were  waylaid  and  killed  on  their  journey 
to  Illinois,  while  their  goods  were  plundered  and  borne  off  by 
the  robber  band.  Sometime  after  this  outrage,  a  number  of 
men  employed  in  slaughtering  cattle  for  Fort  Chartres,  were 
destroyed,  and  their  rifles,  blankets  and  accoutrements  carried  to 
the  Indian  villages.  All  these  brutal  wrongs  were  unredressed, 
and  although  the  Shawanese  are  not  supposed  to  have  been  the 
only  perpetrators  of  the  bloody  cruelties,  yet,  unresisting  sub- 
mission to  such  enormities  seems  to  have  been  a  mistaken  policy 

1  MS.  letter  from  Lyman  C.  Draper. 

*  Les  Indiens  disent  Shawanahaac;  jel'ai  faitr6peterplusieursfois  aquelques 
uns  d'entreux.  Nos  ancetres  par  defaut  d'attention,  out  £crit  Shawanee,  et 
leurs  descendans  out  suivi  cet  example.  Recherches  sur  les  Etats  lints,  1788, 
vol.  4,  p.  153,  note. 


37 

in  an  age  in  which  the  law  of  revenge  or  of  prompt,  compul- 
sory, obedient,  dread  was  the  only  imperative  code  comprehended 
by  the  savages.  Before  our  military  power  had  become  strong, 
and  especially  in  its  very  dawn  in  the  west,  the  tribes  supposed 
all  to  be  feeble  and  forcibly  submissive  who  did  not  resist,  and 
non-resistance,  of  course,  produced  mischief.  They  measured 
us  by  their  only  standard  of  savage  morality — revenge, — a  law 
bloody  indeed,  but  which  the  honest  historian  is  forced  to  regard 
in  considering  the  early  years  of  nations,  especially  when  the 
Indian  and  the  unprotected  white  man  come  in  contact,  and 
when  perhaps  the  moral  grade  and  the  surrounding  circumstances 
of  both  races  are  properly  considered. 

He  who  writes  history,  in  order  to  judge  justly,  must  endeavor 
to  make  himself  a  man  of  the  times  he  describes.  He  is  unfair, 
if  he  decides  on  the  events  of  the  eighteenth  century  by  the 
standards  of  the  nineteenth.  It  would  no  doubt  be  considered 
infamous  in  Massachusetts,  at  the  present  day,  if  an  Indian 
were  killed,  yet  it  will  scarcely  be  credited  that,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century,  the  General  Court  of  that  Province 
offered  a  bounty  of  «^100  for  every  Indian's  scalp.  The  cruel 
murders  almost  daily  committed  by  the  barbarians  upon  the 
defenceless  frontier  inhabitants,  originated  and  were  held  to  jus- 
tify this  enactment;  and  in  one  of  the  bloody  onslaughts  of  the 
Massachusetts  men  against  the  savages,  forty  white  warriors 
returned  to  Boston  with  ten  scalps  extended  on  hoops  in  Indian 
style,  and  demanded  the  reward  of  .£1000,  which  was  promptly 
paid. 

Nor  were  these  expeditions  against  the  Red  Men  unsanctified 
by  prayer.  Chaplains  accompanied  the  doughty  fighters.  Early 
on  the  day  of  conflict  these  pastors  of  the  church  militant  lifted 
up  their  voices,  and  declaring  that  they  had  u  come  out  to  meet 
the  enemy,  besought  God  that  they  might  find  him.  They 
trusted  Providence  with  their  lives,  and  would  rather  die  for 
their  country,  than  return  if  they  could,  without  seeing  the  foe, 
and  be  called  cowards  for  their  pains  ! ' ' 

It  might  be  supposed  that  these  valiant  clergymen  contented 
themselves  with  beseeching  the  "  God  of  battles,"  and  refrained 
from  mingling  in  the  fray.     But  this  was  not  the  case,  for  in 
6 


38 

the  quaint  old  ballad  of  the  Fight  at  Pequawket  it  is  metrically 
narrated  that 

"Our  worthy  Captain  Lovewell  among  them  there  did  die; 
"They  killed  Lieutenant  Robbins,  and  wounded  good  young  Frye 
"  Who  was  our  English  Chaplain;  he  many  Indians  slew, 
"And  some  of  them  he  scalped  when  bullets  round  him  flew!"1 

As  his  Britannic  Majesty's  troops  on  the  Ohio,  at  the  epoch 
of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  had  perhaps  neither  the  power 
nor  spirit  to  punish  or  reclaim  the  Indians,  and  enforce  the  peace 
and  the  treaty, — mischief  became  familiar  to  the  tribes  when 
they  found  that  they  escaped  with  impunity.*  And,  thus,  in 
truth,  the  Indian  hatchet  was  never  buried.  The  summer  after 
Bouquet's  treaty  the  savages  killed  a  white  man  upon  the 
Virginia  frontiers  ;  the  next  year,  eight  Virginians  were  butchered 
on  the  Cumberland,  and  their  peltries  brought  to  the  Indian 
towns  where  they  were  sold  to  Pennsylvania  traders.  Sometime 
after,  Martin,  a  Virginia  trader  with  two  companions,  was  killed 
by  the  Shawanese  on  the  Hockhocking, — only,  as  it  was  alleged 
by  Lord  Dunmore,  because  they  were  Virginians,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  savages  allowed  a  certain  Ellis  to  pass,  simply 
because  he  was  a  Pennsylvanian.  In  1771,  twenty  Virginians 
and  their  party  of  friendly  Indians  were  robbed  by  them  of 
thirty-eight  horses,  as  well  as  of  weapons,  clothes  and  trappings, 
which  they  delivered  to  Callender  and  Spears  and  certain  other 
Pennsylvania  traders  in  their  towns.  In  the  same  year,  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  the  Indians  killed  two  lonely  settlers; 
and,  in  the  following,  Adam  Stroud,  another  Virginian,  with 
his  wife  and  seven  children,  fell  beneath  their  tomahawks  and 
scalping  knives  on  the  waters  of  the  Elk.  In  1773,  the  savages 
were  still  engaged  in  their  work  of  destruction.  Richards  fell 
on  the  Kenhawa;  and  a  few  months  after,  Russel,  another 
Virginian,  with  five  whites  and  two  negroes,  perished  near  the 
Cumberland  Gap,  while  their  horses  and  property  were  bome 
off  by  the  Indians  to  the  towns  where  they  fell  a  prey  to  the 

>  Drake's  Book  of  the  Indians,  Book  III,  p.  128,  130,  133. 
•Maryland  Gazette,  Dec.  1,  1774.     Am.  Archives,  IV  series,  vol  l,p.  1015, 
extract  of  a  letter  from  Red  Stone  Fort  dated  October,  1774. 


39 

Pennsylvania  traders.  These  and  many  other  butcheries  and 
robberies  of  a  similar  character,  were  committed  in  the  savage 
raids  and  forays,  anterior  the  year  1774,  and  long  before  a  sin- 
gle drop  of  Shawanese  blood  was  wantonly  shed  in  retalia- 
tion by  the  irritated  people.1  A  Dutch  family  was  massa- 
cred on  the  Kenhawa  in  June  of  1773,  and  the  family  of 
Mr.  Hog,  and  three  white  men,  on  the  Great  Kenhawa,  early 
in  April,  1774.'  On  the  25th  of  April,  1774,  the  Earl  of  Dun- 
more,  at  Williamsburg  his  seat  of  Government  in  Virginia,  issued 
his  proclamation,  which,  as  dates  are  of  great  importance  in 
this  narrative,  we  should  regard  as  unveiling  other  causes  of 
border  difficulty,  besides  the  Indian  hostilities,  which  were  then 
occurring. 

It  will  be  remembered,  as  I  have  already  stated,  that  the  ter- 
ritorial claim  of  Virginia  covered  at  that  time  a  large  part  of 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  that  a  bitter  controversy  had  arisen 
between  the  two  provinces  and  their  respective  authorities,  espe- 
cially as  to  the  domain  commanding  the  navigable  head  waters 
on  the  line  of  frontier  posts.  There  was  great  jealousy  on 
both  sides.  The  Virginia  pioneer, — planter,  hunter  and  agricul- 
turist,— had  met  in  conflict  with  the  Pennsylvania  trader.  The 
Indians,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  statement  I  gave  of  some  of 
the  murders  during  the  ten  years  after  Bouquet's  peace,  mo- 
lested the  Virginian  forester,  and  appear  to  have  spared  the 
Pennsylvania  trader.  The  allegations  of  Lord  Dunmore  in 
one  of  his  speeches  to  the  Indians,  already  referred  to,  exhibit 
the  soreness  of  provincial  feeling  on  this  subject.3  In  his  pro- 
clamation of  the  25th  of  April,  1774, — before  there  could  possi- 
bly have  been  a  communication  of  any  retaliatory  murders  on 
the  Ohio,  committed  by  the  whites  upon   the  Indians, — the 

1  Earl  of  Dunmore 's  Speech  to  the  Delawares  and  Six  Nation  Chiefs,  Am. 
Archives,  IV  Series,  vol.  1,  p.  873. 

*  Am.  Archives,  IV  Series,  vol.  1,  p.  1015,  and  see  also  Lord  Dunmore's 
answer,  dated  at  Williamsburg,  29  May,  1774,  to  the  speech  of  the  Indians 
dated  at  Pittsburgh,  May  7,  1774, — Am.  Arch,  ut  supra,  p.  482;  but  compare 
the  alleged  Indian  statements  contained  in  a  letter  dated  29  May,  1774,  from 
Arthur  St.  Clair  to  Governor  Penn,  in  the  same  vol.  p.  286. — See  also  Withers 's 
Chronicle  of  Border  War. 

3  Am.  Arch,  ut  supra,  482. 


40 

British  Earl,  then  at  Williamsburg,  declares,  that  inasmuch  as 
there  is  trouble  within  his  jurisdiction  at  Pittsburgh,  and  the  autho- 
rities in  that  place  and  its  dependencies  will  endeavor  to  obstruct 
His  Majesty's  government  thereof  by  illegal  means;  and,  inas- 
much as  that  "settlement  is  in  danger  of  annoyance  from 
Indians,  a/so,"  he  has  thought  proper,  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  his  Majesty's  counsel,  to  require  and  authorize  the  militia 
officers  of  that  district  to  embody  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to 
repel  any  assault  whatever. l  The  events  that  caused  the  issuing 
of  this  proclamation,  must  necessarily  have  occurred  both  among 
the  white  and  the  red  men,  a  considerable  time  before,  so  as  to 
have  allowed  the  messenger  to  cross  the  mountains  prior  to  the 
25th  of  April. 

But  even  anterior  to  this,  on  the  24th  March,  1774,  there 
was  a  letter  published  in  the  Williamsburg  Gazette,  addressed 
to  the  Earl,  and  signed  Virginius,  warning  him  of  an  Indian 
war,  and  beseeching  him  to  convoke  the  House  of  Burgesses  in 
order  to  raise  men  and  means  for  the  defence  of  the  frontier.* 
The  first  volume  of  the  fourth  series  of  the  American  Archives, 
published  by  Congress,  is  full  of  narratives  and  official  corres- 
pondence or  minutes,  disclosing  the  acrimonious  provincial 
animosities  as  to  western  jurisdiction  between  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia  at  this  time,  and  one  writer  declares  that  "more  is  to 
be  dreaded  from  the  rancorous  feeling  between  the  settlers 
from  the  two  states  than  from  the  barbarians."  The  same 
volume  contains  copious  documents  revealing  the  violent  scenes 
that  occurred  in  1774,  upon  the  arrival  at  Pittsburgh  of  John 
Connolly,  who  was  regularly  commissioned  by  Lord  Dunmore, 
though  a  native  of  Lancaster  county,  in  Pennsylvania,  to  repre- 
sent his  authority  as  a  magistrate  for  West  Augusta.3 

It  is  not  a  little  singular,  even  if  nothing  more  than  a  coinci- 
dence, that  Lord  Dunmore  should  have  chosen  the  epoch  of  a 

'  American  Archives,  4th  aeries,  vol.  1,  p.  283.   Ld.  Dunmore 's  proclamation. 

*         Id-  >d.  id.      id.       p.  272  in  the  notes. 

1  See  as  to  the  causes  of  this  war,  in  confirmation,  Withers 's  Chronicles  of 
Border  Warfare,  chapter  vi.— He  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  it  was  not  caused 
by  the  murders  at  Captina  Creek  and  opposite  the  mouth  of  Yellow  Creek, 
which  will  be  subsequently  narrated. 


41 

menaced  Indian  war,  and  of  a  growing  dispute  with  the  mother 
country  beyond  the  seas,  to  assert  formidably  the  rights  of  Vir- 
ginia, not  only  by  issuing  his  proclamation,  but  by  despatching 
to  the  scene  of  action  a  man  like  John  Connolly,  who  was  well 
known  not  only  for  his  bold,  restless  and  artful  temper,  but  for 
his  sagacity,  his  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  Indian  affairs, 
and  his  exceedingly  lax  morality.1 

I  have  not  time  at  present,  nor  is  this  properly  the  occasion, 
to  discuss  a  border  controversy  between  the  two  great  provinces, 
which  has  never  yet  been  fully  chronicled,  and,  at  best,  could 
only  be  an  episode  in  our  history.  Yet  I  have  thought  it  right 
to  show  that  it  occurred,  singularly  enough,  just  at  the  epoch  of 

'Burk's  Hist.  Virginia,  3d  vol.  p.  374,  and  vol.  4,  p.  74. — At  the  latter  refer- 
ence the  reader  will  find  a  further  development  of  Connolly's  subsequent  con- 
duct and  hostility  to  American  interests,  as  disclosed  in  the  plot  formed  by  Lord 
Dunmore  to  bring  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  West  into  the  Revolutionary  con- 
flict. Connolly,  on  his  way  to  Detroit,  was  arrested  near  Fredericktown  in  Ma- 
ryland, by  the  committee  of  safety;  was  examined  and  committed  to  close  cus- 
tody on  the  23d  Nov.,  1775.  He  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Earl,  as  a 
Lieut.  Colonel  Commandant.  4th  Burk,  Appendix  4. — The  joint  plans  of  these 
loyal  Britons  show  the  great  probability  that  there  was,  in  truth,  a  scheme  in 
embryo  to  crush  the  American  Revolution  at  its  birth,  by  a  union  between  the 
Indians,  negroes  and  loyalists,  and  by  the  excitement  of  an  Indian  war  on  the 
frontier,  which  would  compel  the  settlers  to  think  of  self-protection  against  sa- 
vages, instead  of  demanding  from  England  the  security  of  rights  and  liberty,  at 
the  point  of  the  sword  or  muzzle  of  the  rifle.  By  a  letter  from  Lord  Dartmouth 
to  Lord  Dunmore,  dated  at  Whitehall  on  the  2d  August,  1775,  it  appears  that, 
in  the  previous  May,  Dunmore  had  communicated  to  the  home  government  his 
vile  plan  of  raising  the  Indians  and  negroes  to  join  the  miscalled  loyalists  in  an 
onslaught  against  the  Americans. 

See  also  Sabine's  Loyalists: — Article: — John  Connolly. 

The  original  papers  relative  to  the  arrest  of  Connolly  and  his  incendiary  com- 
panions in  Maryland  in  1775  are  recorded  in  the  MS.  "Journal  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Observation  of  the  Middle  District  of  Frederick  County," 
under  date  of  the  21  Nov.,  1775,  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society.  This  record  gives,  1st:  the  letter  from  John  Connolly  to  John  Gibson 
dated  at  Portsmouth,  Aug.  9,  1775;  2d:  A  letter  from  Lord  Dunmore  to  the 
Indian  Capt.  White  Eyes.  It  contains  a  loving  message  to  "his  brother"  The 
Cornstalk — (the  same  who  had  fought  at  Pt.  Pleasant) ;  3d:  Proposals  to  General 
Gage  for  raising  an  army  to  the  Westward  for  the  purpose  of  effectually  ob- 
structing a  communication  between  the  Southern  and  Northern  governments." 
One  of  the  chief  proposals  was  to  raise  the  Indians. 

See  Letters  from  Arthur  St.  Clair  to  Gov.  Penn,  Ligonier,  29  May,  1774, 
lVth  Series  Am.  Arch.  vol.  i.  p.  287. 


42 

the  ware  of  1774,  and  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  probably 
considered  as  a  means  of  exciting  the  enmity  and  disaffection 
betwixt  Virginians  and  Pennsylvanians, — of  loosening  the  links 
between  two  vast  territorial  empires, — and  of  weakening  thus 
the  sympathetic  bond  which  should  have  bound  all  Ameri- 
cans at  that  interesting  moment.  The  fatal  quarrel  with 
Great  Britain  was  already  begun,  and  all  the  chief  provinces, 
from  Massachusetts  southward,  were  rallying  in  the  general 
national  cause  with  a  firmness  of  resolve  that  betokened  danger 
to  the  dominion  of  the  parent  state  unless  our  liberties  were  left 
untouched. 

But  there  is  a  third  motive  for  this  war  which  we  admit  is  not 
altogether  proved  against  the  British  Earl,  although  there  are 
facts  that  strongly  fortify  the  belief  entertained  on  the  subject 
by  early  American  writers  and  soldiers  who  served  in  the  cam- 
paign. Among  all  the  authors  and  journalists  of  the  war  there 
is  evidently  a  strong  impression,  amounting  almost  to  positive 
conviction,  that  Connolly,  as  the  tool  of  Dunmore,  secretly 
fomented  the  war,  with  ulterior  views,  as  a  counter  irritation 
against  the  menaced  resistance  to  England.  Those  who  lived 
nearest  the  scene  of  action,  and  especially  the  Virginians  who 
had  the  best  means  of  judging  Dunmore's  motives,  believed 
from  circumstances  that  transpired  during  the  conflict,  that  the 
Indians  were  urged  to  war  by  the  instigation  of  emissaries  from 
Great  Britain  and  by  the  Canadian  traders.  It  was  generally 
credited  that  Dunmore  had  received  from  England  advices  con- 
cerning the  approaching  contest,  and  that  all  his  measures  with 
the  Indians  had  for  their  ultimate  object  an  alliance  of  foreign 
troops  and  loyalists  with  the  ferocious  warriors  against  the 
Americans.  Nothing,  indeed,  was  more  natural  than  for  British 
politicians  at  home  to  suppose  that  the  excitement  of  an  Indian 
war,  and  the  contemporary  dissension  between  the  people  of  two 
large  provinces  in  America,  would  be  the  means  of  preventing 
a  colonial  coalition  in  opposition  to  parliamentary  taxation.1 

•Burk's  Hist.  Virg.  vol.  3,  p.  380;  Withers's  Chronicles,  p.  107;  Dr.  Dodd- 
ridge's account  of  Dunmore's  war,  in  Kercheval,  (edition  of  1833)  p.  157;  Rev. 
Mr.  Jacobs'  Life  of  Cresap,  pp.  47,  52,  53,  67;  Col.  Stuart's  Memoir  of  the 


43 

But,  fortunately  for  our  liberties,  the  alarm  of  an  Indian  war 
neither  palsied  nor  benumbed  the  masses.  And  although  Penn- 
sylvania did  not  contribute  largely  to  its  suppression,  it  was  not 
until  the  military  ardor  and  indignation  of  the  people  throughout 
Virginia  blazed  up  in  the  colony  and  reacted  on  Dunmore,  that 
he  affected,  at  least,  to  feel  a  hectic  glow  of  virtuous  indignation 
and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops  that  gathered  from 
every  glen  and  mountain  to  repel  the  savage.1 

It  will  be  perceived,  therefore,  that  there  were  three  probable 
causes  or  motives  for  the  war  which  broke  out  in  1774,  the 
leading  events  of  which  I  shall  narrate  very  briefly. 

I.  The  hostility  of  the  Indians  had  been  constantly  mani- 
fested in  the  most  murderous  and  predatory  manner  ever  since 
Bouquet's  peace  in  1764;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  gradual 
enlargement  of  the  white  settlements  had  brought,  in  perilous 
neighborhood,  two  races  who  were  naturally  hostile,  while  nei- 
ther the  savages  of  the  one,  nor  the  hardy  woodsmen  of  the 
other,  were  prepared,  by  continued  forbearance,  to  avoid  con- 
flict or  to  unite  in  a  common  tenure  of  the  soil. 

II.  The  Pennsylvania  disputes  with  Virginia  as  to  territorial 
limits  and  jurisdiction  were  unwisely  fomented  by  the  forcible 
acts  of  Dunmore  and  Connolly,  and  thus  the  comity  and  good 

Indian  Wars,  "printed  by  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  pp.  41,  43,  49,  56; 
Howison's  History  Virginia,  vol.  2,  p.  72;  Hildreth's  History  U.  States,  vol. 
3,  p.  49;  Monette's  History  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  vol.  1,  p.  385;  Virginia 
Historical  Register,  vol.  1,  p.  32,  in  Col.  Andrew  Lewis'  letter;  Annals  of  the 
West;  Ohio  Historical  Collections,  by  Howe,  p.  408;  Almon's  Remembrancer, 
vol.  2,  pp.  218,  330;  Smyth's  Travels  in  America,  Dublin,  1784.  As  to  Dun- 
more's  supposed  treachery  see  Am.  Arch.  vol.  3,  pp.  1191, 1192,  4th  series,  for 
some  strong  suspicions  on  this  point  from  facts  that  became  known  after  the 
treaty  of  Camp  Charlotte  and  the  close  of  the  campaign. 

'Burk  3,  p.  381. — The  Pennsylvania  authorities  took  precautions  soon  after 
the  outbreak  of  troubles  to  signify  to  the  Indians,  by  messengers,  that  the  al- 
leged outrages  were  not  committed  by  Pennsylvanians,  and  that  the  government  of 
Pennsylvania  disavowed  and  condemned  them,  and  therefore  were  not  proper  objects  of 
revenge.  This  timely  notice  is  probably  the  reason  why  the  Indian  war  was 
not  carried  on  against  the  frontier  settlements  of  Pennsylvania,  but  was  chiefly 
directed  against  those  of  Virginia,  where  all  kinds  of  savage  barbarities  were 
inflicted.  See  Gordon's  History  of  Pennsylvania,  p.  475;  Monette's  Valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  vol.  1,  p.  371.  See  also  Drake's  Book  of  the  Indians,  Book  v, 
p.  45,  for  some  sound  reasoning  on  Dunmore's  conduct. 


44 

will  between  two  of  the  most  important  colonies  were  fearfully 
endangered. 

III.  It  was  probably  Lord  Dunmore's  desire  to  incite  a  war 
which  would  arouse  and  band  the  savages  of  the  west,  so  that, 
in  the  anticipated  struggle  with  the  United  Colonies,  the  British 
home  interest  might  ultimately  avail  itself  of  these  children  of 
the  forest  as  ferocious  and  formidable  allies  in  the  onslaught  on 
the  Americans.  But,  at  all  events,  nothing,  so  well  as  an  In- 
dian border-war,  would  excite  a  counteraction  in  the  land  at 
this  moment  of  peril,  and  absorb  the  colonists  in  the  exclusive 
duty  of  self-protection  against  a  foe  that  was  more  to  be  feared 
than  parliamentary  taxation. 

From  this  brief  view  of  the  political  field  of  the  colonies  in 
1774,  let  us  return  to  the  scene  of  impending  hostilities. 

We  left  Michael  Cresap, — the  western  frontier  trader, —  a 
man  of  broken  fortunes,  emigrating  from  his  Maryland  home- 
stead, among  the  mountains  of  Cumberland,  to  the  broad  lands 
and  pleasant  valleys  of  the  Ohio.  His  purpose  unquestionably 
was  not  warlike;  for,  in  the  disastrous  condition  of  his  affairs 
and  with  a  large  family  to  maintain,  peace  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  success  in  his  new  field  of  enterprize.  Accord- 
ingly, early  in  1774,  we  find  him  on  the  Ohio  river,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Pittsburgh  and  Wheeling,  with  laborers  brought 
under  contract  of  hire  from  Maryland,  engaged  in  opening 
and  locating  farms.  He  was  there^  neither  as  a  "  specula- 
tor" nor  a  "land  jobber,"  as  many  of  the  emigrants  of  those 
days  were  unjustly  stigmatized.  His  purpose  was  peaceful 
settlement,  and  he  is  no  more  to  be  blamed  for  his  manly  pro- 
gress into  the  wilderness  in  quest  of  land,  than  were  Wash- 
ington and  many  other  distinguished  Americans  of  those  days 
who  possessed  themselves  of  property  in  the  prolific  valleys  of 
the  west.1 

1  Historians  have  been  in  the  habit  of  stigmatizing  all  concerned  in  the  out- 
break of  this  war  aa  "speculators  and  land  jobbers"  who  were  anxious  to 
drive  off  the  Indians. — I  shall  insert  below  an  advertisement  from  the  Mary- 
land Gazette  of  May  26th,  1774,  which  shows  the  opinion,  at  least  of  Wash- 
ington, at  that  time,  and  is  surely  calculated  to  prove  the  honesty  of  purpose 


45 

Cresap  was  engaged  in  these  honest  and  laudable  pursuits 
when  he  suddenly  received  a  summons  which  terminated  for- 
ever his  communication  with  the  west. 

After  this  region  had  been  explored  in  1773,  a  resolution  was 
formed  by  a  band  of  hardy  pioneers, —  among  whom  was 
George  Rogers  Clark,  who,  afterwards,  as  a  general  officer, 
became  so  celebrated  in  the  annals  of  Kentucky — to  make  a 
settlement  during  the  following  spring;  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Little  Kenhawa  was  appointed  as  the  place  of  general  rendez- 
vous, whence  the  united  party  should  descend  the  river.  Early 
in  1774  the  Indians  had  done  some  of  their  habitual  mischief. 
Reports  of  further  and  perhaps  meditated  dangers  were  rife 
along  the  river,  as  coming  from  the  Indian  towns.  Many  of 
the  promised  settlers,  alarmed  by  the  news,  remained  at  their 
homes,  so  that,  at  the  appointed  time,  not  more  than  eighty  or 
ninety  men  assembled  at  the  rendezvous. 

In  a  few  days  the  anticipated  troubles  with  the  savages  com- 
menced. A  small  party  of  hunters,  encamped  about  ten  miles 
below  Clark's  emigrants,  were  fired  upon  by  the  Indians;  but 
the  red  men  were  repulsed  and  the  hunters  returned  to  camp. 
This  hostile  demonstration,  coupled  with  the  rumors  already 
spoken  of,  satisfied  the  Americans  that  the  savages  were  bent  on 
war.  Accordingly,  the  whole  band  was  regularly  enrolled  for 
protection;  yet  it  was  resolved  to  adhere  to  the  original  project 

with  which  far-seeing  men  took  advantage  of  their  opportunities  to  obtain  titles 
and  open  farms  in  the  region  beyond  the  Alleghanies: — 

"Fairfax  County,  Va.,  May  10,  1774. 

"  In  the  month  of  March  last  the  subscriber  sent  out  a  number  of  carpenters 
and  laborers,  to  build  houses  and  clear  and  enclose  lands  on  the  Ohio,  intending 
to  divide  the  several  tracts  which  he  there  holds,  into  convenient  sized  tene- 
ments and  to  give  leases  therefor  for  lives,  or  a  term  of  years,  renewable  for- 
ever, under  certain  conditions  which  may  be  known  either  of  him,  or  Mr. 
Valentine  Crawford,  who  is  now  on  the  land. 

"The  situation  and  quality  of  these  lands  having  been  thoroughly  described 
in  a  former  advertisement,  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  on  them  here;  suffice  it 
generally  to  observe,  that  there  are  no  better  in  that  country,  and  that  the  whole 
of  them  lay  upon  the  banks  either  of  the  Ohio  or  Great  Kanhawa,  and  are  capa- 
ble of  receiving  the  highest  improvement. 

4w.  "George  Washington." 


46 

of  settling  in  Kentucky,  inasmuch  as  the  camp  was  amply  fur- 
nished with  every  thing  needful  for  such  an  enterprize. 

An  Indian  town,  called  the  "Horse-head  Bottom,"  on  the 
Scioto,  near  its  mouth,  lay  in  the  pioneers'  way,  and  they  forth- 
with resolved  to  cross  the  country  and  surprise  it.  But  when 
the  question  arose  as  to  who  should  command  so  perilous  an 
adventure,  it  was  found  that,  in  the  whole  band,  no  one  pos- 
sessed sufficient  experience  in  Indian  warfare  to  be  entrusted 
confidendy  with  the  fortunes  of  his  companions.  It  was  known, 
however,  that  Michael  Cresap  dwelt  on  the  river  about  fifteen 
miles  above  the  camp,  engaged  with  certain  laborers  in  settling 
a  plantation,  and  that  he  had  resolved  to  follow  this  band  of 
pioneers  to  Kentucky  as  soon  as  he  had  established  his  people. 
His  experience  of  frontier  life  was  conceded.  The  eager  set- 
tlers, with  one  voice,  resolved  to  demand  his  services  in  the 
hour  of  danger,  and  messengers  were  forthwith  despatched  to 
seek  him.  In  half  an  hour  they  returned  with  Michael,  who, 
hearing  of  the  unwise  resolution  to  attack  the  Indian  town,  had 
set  out  to  visit  the  pioneer  camp.  The  emigrants  at  once 
thought  their  army, — as  they  called  it, — complete,  and  the  de- 
struction of  the  savages  certain.  But  a  council  was  called,  and 
to  die  surprise  of  all,  the  intended  commander-in-chief,  promptly 
dissuaded  his  companions  from  the  meditated  enterprize.  He 
said  that,  in  truth,  appearances  were  very  suspicious,  yet  that 
there  was  no  certainty  of  war; — that  if  the  pioneers  attacked 
the  savages  he  had  no  doubt  of  success,  but  that  a  war  would 
be  the  unquestionable  result,  the  blame  of  which  would  fall 
upon  the  assailants.  If  they  determined  to  proceed,  however, 
he  promised  to  send  to  his  camp  for  his  people,  and  to  share  the 
fortunes  of  die  adventurers. 

This  mild  but  resolute  counsel  struck  the  whole  band  forcibly, 
and  it  was  immediately  lesolved,  according  to  Cresap's  advice,  to 
return  to  Wheeling  as  a  convenient  post  where  further  tidings 
might  readily  be  obtained.  A  few  weeks,  he  thought,  would 
determine  the  impending  issue;  and,  as  it  was  still  early  in  the 
spring,  if  the  Indians  were  found  to  be  indisposed  for  war,  the 
immigrants  would  have  ample  time  to  descend  the  river  to  their 
proposed  settlement  in  Kentucky. 


47 

In  two  hours  the  Pioneers  had  struck  their  tents  and  were  on 
their  way  to  Wheeling.  As  they  ascended  the  river  they  met 
Killbuck,  an  Indian  Chief,  accompanied  by  a  small  party,  and 
had  a  long  but  unsatisfactory  interview  with  him  as  to  the  dis- 
position of  the  tribes.  It  was  observed  that  Cresap  did  not 
attend  this  conference,  but  remained  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  declaring  that  he  was  afraid  to  trust  himself  with  the 
Indians,  especially  as  Killbuck  had  frequently  attempted  to 
waylay  and  murder  his  father  in  Maryland,  and  that  if  they 
met,  his  fortitude  might  forsake  him  and  he  might  put  the 
savage  to  death.1  These  anecdotes  denote  the  caution  and 
self-restraint,  the  prudence  and  vigilance  with  which  Michael 
Cresap  behaved  and  counseled  during  the  whole  of  these  open- 
ing scenes,  and  exhibit  him  in  the  true  light  of  an  immigrant 
who  was  anxious  to  maintain  inviolate  the  peace  of  a  region  in 
which  his  fortunes  had  been  cast. 

On  the  party's  arrival  at  Wheeling,  around  which  there  were 
many  white  settlements,  all  the  inhabitants  appeared  to  be 
alarmed.  They  flocked  to  the  camp  from  every  direction,  and 
refused  to  leave  the  protecting  wings  of  the  Pioneers.  Offers 
were  made  to  cover  their  neighborhood  with  scouts,  until 
further  reliable  information  was  received ;  but  no  counsel  or 
promise  of  protection  would  avail.  Every  day  brought  fresh 
accessions  of  strength  to  the  party.  Farmers,  hunters,  woods- 
men, nocked  to  the  band  of  Kentucky  Pioneers,  until  its  num- 
bers became  formidable. 

The  arrival  of  these  men  at  Wheeling  was  soon  known  at 
Pittsburgh,  and  the  whole  of  that  region,  as  I  have  stated,  was, 
under  the  asserted  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  controlled  by  Con- 
nolly, under  Dunmore's  commission  for  West  Augusta.  When 
Connolly  heard  of  the  Pioneers'  approach  to  Wheeling  he  sent 
a  message  to  the  party,  informing  it  that  war  was  to  be  appre- 
hended, and  requesting  that  it  would  remain  in  position  a  short 
time  inasmuch  as  messages  had  been  sent  to  the  Indians  and  a 

1  Killbuck— see  Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  p.  31,  for  a  ludicrous  accident  that 
happened  to  this  Indian  whilst  engaged  in  the  assault  on  Cresap  and  his  friends 
at  the  Old  Town  affair  heretofore  narrated. — It  was  perhaps  the  first  time  that 
a  savage  was  so  singularly  wounded  by  a  woman ! 


48 

few  days  would  solve  the  doubt.  Before  a  complying  answer 
could  reach  Pittsburgh,  however,  a  second  express  arrived  from 
Connolly,  addressed  to  Captain  Cresap,  as  the  most  influential 
man  in  the  band,  apprizing  him  that  the  messengers  had  returned 
from  the  Indians, — that  war  was  inevitable, — that  the  savages 
would  strike  as  soon  as  the  season  permitted, — and  begging  him 
to  use  his  influence  with  the  party  to  cover  the  country  with 
scouts  until  the  inhabitants  could  fortify  themselves.1  This 
message  reached  Cresap  about  the  21st  of  April,2  and  its  re- 
ception was  the  signal  of  open  hostilities  against  the  Indians. 
Such  was  the  natural  result  on  so  exposed  a  frontier,  where  the 
white  man  or  the  savage  who  obtained  the  first  shot  was  the 
victor,  and  where  Indian  assassination  or  "  private  war" — to 
give  it  the  most  civilized  name, — was  the  only  rule  recognized 
by  the  red  men  when  they  were  aroused  against  encroaching 
Americans. 

A  new  post  was  immediately  planted,  a  council  called,  and 
the  letter  read  by  Cresap  not  only  to  his  armed  party  but  to  all 
the  neighboring  Indian  traders  who  were  summoned  on  so 
important  an  occasion.  The  result  was  a  solemn  and  formal 
declaration  of  war  on  the  26th  of  April,  and  that  very  night 
two  scalps  were  brought  into  the  camp.8 

Some  days  prior  to  this  Mr.  William  Butler,  who  seems  not 
to  have  heeded  the  earlier  warnings,  had  sent  off  a  canoe  loaded 
with  goods  for  the  Shawanese  towns,  and  on  the  16th  of  April, 
it  was  attacked,  forty  miles  below  Pittsburg,  by  three  Cherokees, 

'Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  54;  4th  Series  Am.  Archives,  vol:  1,  468;  Gen. 
Rogers  Clarke's  letter  in  the  Appendix  No.  1  to  this  discourse.  Dr.  Wheelar's 
testimony  in  Jacob,  p.  110. 

•The  letter  in  the  American  Archives  referred  to  above  at  p.  468,  indicates 
the  date  of  this  letter  or  message  from  Connolly  to  have  been  on  the  21st  of 
JiprU,  1774.  Devereux  Smith  writes  to  Dr.  Smith  from  Pittsburgh  under  date 
of  10th  June,  1774,  as  follows:  ««••••  On  the  21st  of  April  Connolly  wrote 
a  letter  to  the  inhabitants  of  Wheeling,  telling  them  that  he  had  been  informed 
by  good  authority  that  the  Shawanese  were  ill-disposed  towards  white  men, 
and  that  he  therefore  required  and  commanded  them  to  hold  themselves  in  read- 
iness to  repel  any  insults  that  might  be  offered  them."  See  also  same  vol.  of 
Am.  Arch.  p.  287,  where  Connolly's  "circular  letter  to  the  inhabitants  on  the 
<  Me  "  is  spoken  of.     Jacob  says  he  once  possessed  it:  pp.  53,  54,  110,  113. 

'McK.c'.s  MS.  Journal,  London  Documents,  Albany,  N.  Y.  Am.  Arch., 
IVth  Series,  1st  vol.,  p.  345. 


49 

who  waylaid  it  on  the  river.  They  killed  one  white  man, 
wounded  another,  while  a  third  made  his  escape,  and  the  sa- 
vages plundered  the  canoe  of  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  cargo. 

The  day  after  the  declaration  of  war  by  Cresap  and  his  men, 
under  the  warning  authority  of  Connolly's  message,  some  canoes 
of  Indians  were  descried  on  the  river  keeping  under  the  cover 
of  an  island  to  screen  themselves  from  the  party's  sight.  The 
skiffs  were  immediately  chased  for  fifteen  miles  down  the  river, 
and  driven  on  shore.  A  battle  ensued,  in  which  an  Indian  was 
taken  prisoner,  a  few  were  wounded  on  both  sides,  and  perhaps 
one  slain.  On  examining  the  canoes  they  were  found  to  con- 
tain a  considerable  quantity  of  ammunition  and  other  warlike 
stores.1 

In  the  deliberations  of  the  camp  on  the  night  after  the  party's 
return,  it  was  determined  that  a  band  should  march  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  about  thirty  miles  up  the  river  in  order  to  attack 
the  settlement  of  Logan;  but  the  band  had  not  advanced  more 
than  five  miles,  when,  halting  for  refreshment,  Cresap  asserted 
the  gross  impropriety  of  executing  so  dastardly  an  enterprize 
against  a  party  composed  of  men,  women  and  children,  and 
who  were  known  to  cherish  no  hostile  intentions  but  to  be  solely 
engaged  in  hunting.  These  facts  were  familiar  to  the  pioneers, 
many  of  whom  had  visited  the  Indian  camp  during  the  pre- 
ceding March,  as  they  descended  the  Ohio  to  their  original 
rendezvous. 

Cresap 's  counsel  immediately  prevailed,  and  every  man 
seemed  disgusted  with  the  project  which,  a  short  time  before,  he 
had  so  heedlessly  and  shamefully  cherished.  The  party  re- 
turned to  camp  in  the  evening,  and  speedly  took  the  road  to 
Red-Stone  Old  Fort.2 

Thus,  Cresap  and  his  men  were  gone;  but  unfortunately,  his 
prudent  and  friendly  advice  as  to  the  luckless  settlement  of 
Logan  was  not  heeded  by  others  on  the  river.     In  May,  1774, 

1  See  Alex.  McKee's  MS.  Journal,  London  Documents,  Albany,  and  Arti- 
cle in  American  Journal  of  Science  for  October,  1846,  p.  10;  and  compare  with  the 
letter  in  Appendix  No.  1,  to  this  discourse. 

*  See  General  Clark's  letter;  Appendix  No.  1. 


.    50 

and  probably  on  the  first  day  of  that  month,  it  was  cruelly  des- 
troyed by  others. l 

The  Indian  camp  was  about  thirty  miles  above  Wheeling1, 
close  to  the  mouth  of  Yellow  creek,  while  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Ohio,  near  the  river  bank,  was  the  cabin  of  a 
certain  Baker,  who  sold  rum  to  the  Indians,  and  of  course 
received  frequent  visits  from  the  savages.  This  man  had  been 
particularly  desired  by  Cresap  to  remove  his  liquors,  and 
seems  to  have  prepared  to  take  them  away  at  the  time  of  the 
murder. 

Towards  the  close  of  April,  1774,  a  certain  Michael  Myers, — 
a  venerable  man,  who  still  lived  on  the  Ohio  a  few  miles  above 
Steubenville,  in  February,  1850, — resided  on  Pigeon  creek, 
which,  according  to  the  maps  lies  about  forty  miles  from  Yellow 
creek.  A  day  or  two  before  the  following  events,  two  land- 
hunters  came  to  Myers's  settlement  and  induced  him  to  accom- 
pany them  across  the  stream  and  down  the  banks  of  this  Yellow 
creek  in  order  to  examine  the  country.  Proceeding  along  the 
western  shore  of  the  creek  for  some  miles,  the  travellers  bivou- 
acked for  the  night,  and  "hobbled"  the  only  horse  they  had 
with  them  so  as  to  prevent  his  straying  from  the  camp.  The 
animal,  nevertheless,  rambled  off  about  three  hundred  yards  out 
of  sight,  over  a  rising  ground;  and,  soon  after,  hearing  the  beast's 
bell  rattle  violently,  the  woodsmen  seized  their  guns  and  started 
id  discover  the  cause.  On  reaching  the  top  of  the  ridge  Myers 
beheld,  near  forty  yards  below,  an  Indian  in  the  act  of  loosening 
the  horse  which  seemed  restive  and  anxious  to  break  from  the 
savage,  whose  gun  lay  on  the  ground  beside  him.  Myers, 
crouching  behind  the  hillock,  instantly  levelled  his  rifle  and  shot 
the  Indian  without  consulting  his  companions.  It  was  now  a 
little  after  sunset,  and  soon,  another  Indian,  attracted  by  the 

1  See  Gen.  Clark's  letter,  Appendix  No.  1.— Benjamin  Tomlinson,  in  his  testi- 
mony in  Jacob's  life  of  Cresap,  p.  107,  fixes  the  time  on  the  "  third  or  fourth  of 
May,  but  John  Sappington's  statement  in  the  4th  Appendix  to  Jefferson's  Notes 
on  Va.,  p.  52,  dates  it  on  the  24th"  of  May.  From  an  examination  of  McKee's 
MS.  Journal,  London  Documents,  Albany;  Clark's  letter;  the  Penna.  Packet 
of  23d  May,  1774,  and  Mr.  L.  C.  Draper's  MSS.,  I  am  satisfied  the  massa- 
cre occurred  on  the  1st  day  of  May,  and  that  Sappington'a  date  of  the  24th 
May,  given  from  memory,  after  a  lap$e  of  twenty-six  years,  is  inaccurate. 


51 

crack  of  the  weapon,  approached  rapidly  armed  with  his  rifle, 
but  halted  abruptly  in  astonishment  as  soon  as  he  beheld  his 
prostrate  fellow.  In  the  meanwhile  Myers  had  reloaded  his 
rifle,  and  before  the  savage  could  recover  from  his  surprise,  he 
too,  fell  before  the  forester's  fatal  aim.  In  the  distance  the 
camp  of  the  clan,  spread  with  deer  and  bear-skins,  was  visible, 
and  as  prompt  succor  was  at  hand,  the  Americans  did  not  pause 
to  see  whether  the  Indian's  wounds  were  deadly,  but  flying 
from  the  spot,  recrossed  the  river  for  safety,  and  hastened  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Baker's  cabin.1 

The  evening  or  night,  before  the  tragedy  which  I  am  now 
about  to  narrate  was  committed  at  this  cabin,  a  squaw  came 
over  to  Baker's  and  aroused  the  attention  of  the  inmates  by  her 
tears  and  manifest  distress.  For  a  long  time  she  refused  to  dis- 
close the  cause  of  her  sorrow,  but  at  last,  when  left  alone  with 
Baker's  wife,  confessed  that  the  Indians  had  resolved  to  kill  the 
white  woman  and  her  family  the  next  day,  but,  as  she  loved 
her  and  did  not  wish  to  see  her  slain,  she  had  crossed  the 
river  to  divulge  the  plot  so  as  to  enable  her  friend  to  escape. 
The  savages  had  most  probably  been  roused  to  revenge  by  the 
unfortunate  rencounter  of  Myers  with  their  slain  or  wounded 
clansmen! 

In  consequence  of  this  astounding  information,  and  in  dread 
of  the  meditated  assassination,  Baker  summoned  twenty-one 
of  his  neighbors,  who  all  reached  his  house  before  morning, 
when  it  was  resolved  that  the  strangers  should  conceal  them- 
selves in  a  back  apartment,  whence  the  assailing  Indians  might 
be  watched.  It  was  also  determined  that  if  they  demeaned 
themselves  peaceably,   they   should   not  be  molested;  but  if 

JMS.  narrative  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  L.  C.  Draper  who  visited  Myers  in  1850, 
and  received  the  account  from  his  lips.  Mr.  D.  thinks  that  the  narrator 
may  have  confounded  in  his  memory  the  events  of  another  period;  but  as  Myers 
positively  asserts  that  this  affair  led  the  hostile  parties  of  Indians  to  go  over  next  day 
to  Baker's;  as  it  gives  the  plausible  pretext  for  the  story  of  the  squaw  who  visited  Mrs. 
Baker;  and  as  it  is  the  same  account  that  Myers  has  constantly  told  his  neighbors,  I 
am  inclined  to  rely  in  its  accuracy.  Mr.  Myers  has  always  sustained  a  good 
character;  in  early  times  was  a  Captain,  and  served  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace 
for  many  years. — Myers  admits  that  he  took  part  in  firing  on  the  Indians  who 
crossed  in  canoes  on  the  day  of  the  massacre. 


52 

hostility  was  manifested,  they  should  show  themselves  and  act 
accordingly. ' 

Early  in  the  morning  a  party  of  seven  Indians,  composed  of 
three  squaws,  with  an  infant,  and  four  unarmed  men,  one  of 
whom  was  Logan's  brother,  crossed  the  river  to  Baker's  cabin, 
where  all  but  Logan's  brother  obtained  liquor  and  became  ex- 
cessively drunk.  No  whites,  except  Baker  and  two  of  his 
companions,  appeared  in  the  cabin.  After  some  time,  Logan's 
relative  took  down  a  coat  and  hat  belonging  to  Baker's  brother- 
in-law,  and  putting  them  on,  set  his  arms  akimbo,  strutted 
about  the  apartment,  and  at  length  coming  up  abruptly  to  one 
of  die  men,  addressed  him  with  the  most  offensive  epithets  and 
attempted  to  strike  him.2  The  white  man, — Sappington,3 — 
who  was  thus  assailed  by  language  and  gesture,  for  some  time 
kept  out  of  his  way;  but,  becoming  irritated,  seized  his  gun 
and  shot  the  Indian  as  he  was  rushing  to  the  door  still  clad  in 
the  coat  and  hat.  The  men,  who  during  the  whole  of  this 
scene  had  remained  hidden,  now  poured  forth,  and,  without 
parley,  mercilessly  slaughtered  the  whole  Indian  party  except 
the  infant!  Before  this  tragic  event  occurred,  however,  two 
canoes,  one  with  two  and  the  other  with  five  Indians,  all  naked, 
painted,  and  completely  armed  for  war,  were  descried  stealing 
from  the  opposite  shore  where  Logan's  camp  was  situated. 
This  was  considered  as  confirmation  of  what  the  squaw  had 
said  the  night  before,  and  was  afterwards  alleged  in  justifica- 
tion of  the  murder  of  the  unarmed  party  which  had  first  arrived. 

No  sooner  were  the  unresisting  drunkards  dead,  than  the  in- 
furiate whites  rushed  to  the  river  bank  and  ranging  themselves 
along  the  concealing  fringe  of  underwood,  prepared  to  receive 
the  canoes.  The  first  that  arrived  was  the  one  containing  two 
warriors,  who  were  fired  upon  and  killed.     The  other  canoe 

1  Some  writers  declare  that  Greathouse  visited  the  Indian  camp  the  night 
before  the  massacre  and  "decoyed"  the  savages  over  to  drink  on  the  next  day. 
McKee's  MS.  Journal,  ut  antea.     Moravian  Journal,  Am.  Arch.  1,  285. 

»See  Withers's  Border  Warfare,  p.  113,  for  Col.  Swearingen's  testimony  as  to 
the  provoking  conduct  of  Logan 's  brother  at  Yellow  creek,  and  as  to  the  origin 
of  this  affair. 

JSee  McKee's  certificate,  in  Jefferson,  at  the  end  of  Sappington 's  narrative. 


53 

immediately  turned  and  fled;  but,  after  this,  two  others  contain- 
ing eighteen  warriors,  painted  and  prepared  for  conflict  as 
the  first  had  been,  started  to  assail  the  Americans.  Advanc- 
ing more  cautiously  than  the  former  party,  they  endeavored  to 
land  below  Baker's  cabin,  but  being  met  by  the  rapid  movements 
of  the  rangers  before  they  could  effect  their  purpose,  they  were  put 
to  flight  with  the  loss  of  one  man,  although  they  returned  the 
fire  of  the  pioneers. 

In  this  desperate  and  bloody  massacre,  which  was  hastily  per- 
petrated it  seems  in  anticipation  of  an  Indian  attack, — an  anti- 
cipation which  was  probably  confirmed  by  the  opportune  ap- 
pearance of  the  armed  and  painted  warriors, — there  were  several 
men  by  the  name  of  Greathouse  deeply  and  fearfully  concerned. 
There  are  persons  who  charge  the  whole  of  the  horrid  but  de- 
bateable  scene  upon  these  individuals,  yet  its  details  are  too  dis- 
gusting to  be  dwelt  on  more  than  is  needed  in  characterizing  a 
single  event  of  those  cruel  times. l  Mr.  John  Sappington,  whose 
statement  in  the  IVth  Appendix  to  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia is  the  clearest,  most  circumstantial  and  consistent  I  have 
met,  declares  that  he  does  not  believe  u  Logan  had  any  rela- 
tions killed,  except  a  brother;  that  none  of  the  squaws  who 

'See  and  compare:  John  Sappington 's  statement  in  Jefferson's  Notes  on 
Virginia,  Appendix  No.  IV.  p.  51;  Jame&Chambers 's  deposition,  id. — id.,  p.  39; 
Robinson's  at  p.  42;  Gen.  Clark's  letter,  Appendix  No.  1  to  this  discourse. 
Sappington  states  that  he  was  "  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  circumstances 
respecting  the  destruction  of  Logan's  family,"  though  he  does  not  admit,  in 
his  carefully  drawn  statement,  that  he  was  present  at  the  scene  of  murder. 
Tomlinson  in  his  testimony  given  in  Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  p.  107,  alleges 
that  he  believes  "Logan's  brother  was  killed  by  a  man  named  Sappington." 
McKee  in  his  certificate  appended  to  Sappington 's  testimony  in  Jefferson's 
Notes,  says  that  Sappington  admitted  he  was  the  man  who  killed  Logan's  bro- 
ther. See  also  the  statement  written  by  Mr.  Jolly,  published  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Science  and  Art,  vol.  xxxi,  p.  10,  and  republished  in  Howe's  Ohio 
Hist.  Coll.,  266.     See  Drake's  Book  of  the  Indians. 

It  is  important  to  recollect  that  all  these  statements  and  depositions  positively 
prove  that  Captain  Michael  Cresap  was  neither  present  at  nor  countenanced  the 
alleged  murder  of  Logan's  kin  at  the  Yellow  creek  massacre.  The  fact  that 
Sappington's  statement  was  published  by  Mr.  Jefferson  himself,  indicates  the  con- 
fidence he  placed  in  it,  especially  as  he  inserts  it  as  a  sort  of  supplement  to  the 
other  testimony  on  the  subject  which  had  been  printed  before  its  reception. 
Logan's  mother,  brother,  and  sister,  (Gibson's  Indian  wife  or  squaw,  in  all 
likelihood,) — were,  probably,  all  of  the  relatives  of  Logan  killed  there. 


54 

were  slain  was  his  wife;  that  two  of  them  were  old  women, 
while  the  third,  whose  infant  was  spared,  was  the  wife  of 
General  Gibson,"  who,  at  that  period  was  an  Indian  trader, 
and  subsequently  took  care  of  the  child  as  if  it  had  been 
his  own. 

The  war  soon  raged  with  savage  fury.  This  act  seems  to 
have  roused  the  Indians  to  immediate  hostility.  A  letter  from 
Arthur  St.  Clair  to  Governor  Penn,  dated  at  Ligonier,  on  the 
22d  of  June,  states  that  Logan  is  returned  with  one  prisoner  and 
thirteen  scalps.  >  The  blood  of  his  kindred  cried  for  vengeance 
and  he  had  already  trod  the  "war-path." 

On  the  12th  of  July,  as  William  Robinson,  Thomas  Hellen 
and  Coleman  Brown,  were  gathering  flax  in  a  field,  on  the 
west  fork  of  the  Monongahela,  they  were  surprised  by  a  party 
of  eight  Indians,  led  by  Logan.  The  savages  stole  upon  them 
and  fired  before  they  were  perceived.  Brown  fell,  pierced  by 
several  balls,  but  Hellen  and  Robinson  sought  safety  in  flight. 
The  former  of  these  was  too  old  to  avoid  capture;  yet  Robinson, 
wiUi  the  agility  of  youth,  and  urged  by  his  love  of  life  and 
liberty,  would  have  escaped  but  for  an  untoward  accident.  Be- 
lieving that  he  was  outstripping  his  pursuers  in  the  race,  he 
hastily  turned  to  ascertain  the  fact,  but  while  glancing  over  his 
shoulder,  he  ran  with  such  violence  against  a  tree  as  to  be  thrown 
stunned  and  powerless  on  the  ground.  The  savages  at  once 
secured  him  with  cords,  and  when  revived,  he  was  taken  back 
to  the  spot  where  the  lifeless  and  bleeding  body  of  Brown  was 
laid  and  where  Hellen  was  already  secured.  Taking  with  them 
a  horse  belonging  to  the  latter,  the  Indians  immediately  departed 
for  their  towns  with  the  prisoners. 

As  they  approached  the  Indian  camp  Logan  gave  the  scalp 
halloo,  and,  immediately,  several  warriors  came  forth  to  meet 
them.  The  unfortunate  captives  were  now  compelled  to  run 
the  gaundet  for  their  lives.  Logan  had  manifested  a  kindly 
feeling  to  Robinson  from  the  moment  of  his  seizure,  and 
previously  instructed  him  as  to  the  way  by  which  he  might 
reach  the  Council  House  of  the   clan  without  danger.     But 

'  4th  Series  Am.  Archives,  vol.  1,  p.  475. 


55 

the  decrepit  Hellen,  ignorant  of  the  place  of  refuge,  was  sadly 
beaten  before  he  arrived;  and  when,  at  length,  he*  had  come 
almost  within  the  asylum,  he  was  prostrated  with  a  war  club 
before  he  could  enter.  "  After  he  had  fallen,  the  savages  con- 
tinued to  beat  him  with  such  unmerciful  severity  that  he  would 
assuredly  have  died  under  their  barbarous  usage,  had  not  Robin- 
son, at  some  peril  to  his  own  safety  for  the  interference,  stretched 
forth  his  hand  and  dragged  him  within  the  sanctuary.  When 
he  recovered  from  the  violent  beating  he  was  relieved  from  the 
apprehension  of  further  suffering  by  adoption  into  an  Indian 
family. ' ' 

A  council  was  next  convoked  to  decide  the  fate  of  Robinson. 
Logan  assured  him  that  he  should  not  be  sacrificed;  but  the 
council  appeared  resolved  on  his  death,  and  accordingly  he  was 
tied  to  the  stake.  His  captor,  at  once,  appealed  to  the  warriors 
with  great  vehemence;  insisted  that  Robinson  should  be  spared; 
and  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  vehement  eloquence,  which,  never- 
theless, did  not  avail  to  avert  his  stern  and  dreadful  doom.  At 
length,  enraged  at  the  pertinacity  with  which  the  life  of  Robin- 
son, his  own  captive,  was  refused  him,  and  heedless  of  con- 
sequences, Logan  drew  the  tomahawk  from  his  belt,  and 
cleaving  the  cords  which  bound  the  victim  to  the  stake,  hur- 
ried him  to  the  wigwam  of  an  ancient  squaw  by  whom  he 
was  at  once  adopted  as  a  member  of  her  family.  He  was 
to  fill  the  place  of  a  warrior  who  had  been  slain  in  the  Yellow 
creek  massacre.1 

About  three  days  after  this  occurrence,  Logan  suddenly 
brought  to  Robinson  a  piece  of  paper,  and  making  a  black  fluid 
with  water  and  gunpowder,  commanded  him  to  write  a  note 
which  we  shall  see  was  soon  used  in  one  of  the  brutal  raids  of 
the  detached  parties  that  scoured  the  country  and  laid  waste 
to  every  scattered  or  isolated  settlement  within  a  day's  march  of 
the  Ohio.  Men,  women,  children — and  even  cattle — were  all  in- 
discriminately scalped  and  butchered.  The  females  were  stripped 
and  shamefully  outraged.  The  men  were  slain,  and  knives, 
tomahawks  or  axes  left  in  the  breasts  they  had  cleft  asunder. 

1  Withers's  Border  "Warfare,  118,  et  seq.;  Robinson's  narrative  in  Jefferson's 
IVth  Appendix,  p.  41;  Howe's  Ohio  Hist.  Coll.,  p.  267. 


56 

The  brains  of  infants  were  beaten  out,  and  the  carcases  left  a 
prey  to  the  beasts  of  the  forest. ' 

When  Judge  Innes  happened  to  be  at  the  residence  of  Colonel 
Preston's  family,  in  the  fall  of  1774,  an  express  was  sent  to 
the  Colonel  as  Lieutenant  of  the  county,  requesting  a  guard  of 
militia  to  be  ordered  out  for  the  protection  of  the  residents  on 
the  lower  portions  of  the  north  fork  of  the  Holston.  Every 
member  of  the  family  of  a  settler  named  John  Roberts,2  had 
been  cruelly  cut  off  by  the  savages,  and  the  perpetrator  of  the 
assassination  was  traced  by  "  the  card"  which  he  left  as  a  bloody 
memorial  of  his  visit!  A  war  club  was  deposited  in  the  house 
of  the  murdered  forester,  and,  attached  to  it,  was  the  following 
note — the  identical  one  which  Logan  had  forced  Robinson  to 
write  with  his  gunpowder  ink: 

"Captain  Cresap, 

"  What  did  you  kill  my  people  on  Yellow  creek  for?  The 
white  people  killed  my  kin  at  Conestoga,  a  great  while  ago,  and 
T  thought  nothing  of  that.  But  you  killed  my  kin  again  on 
Yellow  creek,  and  took  my  cousin  prisoner.  Then  I  thought  I 
must  kill  too;  and  I  have  been  three  times  to  war  since; — but  the 
Indiana  are  not  angry — only  myself. 

"  Captain  John  Logan. 

"My2\st,  1774." 

This  is  a  document  savagely  circumstantial  and  circumstan- 
ally  savage; — cool,  deliberate,  and  bloody,  even  to  the  date,— 
and  left  as  this  sentimental  Indian's  apology, — not  as  his  chal- 
lenge,— in  the  desolated  dwelling  and  amid  the  reeking  bodies 
he  had  butchered.  It  is  the  first  deliberate  charge  made  by 
Logan  of  the  supposed  murder  of  his  relatives  by  Cresap  at 

'Md.  Gazette,  30th  June,  1774;  Hite's  account  of  the  murder  of  Spier's 
family  on  the  3d  or  4th  of  June.— See  also  same  paper  of  30th  Nov.  for  letter 
from  Col.  Preston  at  Fincastle,  28th  Sept.,  describing  Indian  murders  and  out- 
ragea. 

•Amonj  the  MS.  papers  of  Col.  Wm,  Preston  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  L. 
C.  Draper,  there  is  an  original  letter  from  Major  Arthur  Campbell,  dated  the 
12th  October,  in  which  he  enclosed  the  original  missive  from  Logan  and  ap- 
peaded  a  copy.  This  is  doubtless  the  one  to  which  Innes  alludes  in  Jefferson's 
Appendix.    The  correct  name  was  Roberts. 


57 

Yellow  creek,  and  I  must  promptly  rebuke  it  by  recalling  to  your 
minds  all  the  facts  of  that  occurrence,  against  which  Cresap 
had  protested  to  Clark's  party,  and  from  the  theatre  of  wliich 
he  had  drawn  off  his  men  and  departed. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring,  Michael  Cresap  had  not 
only  left  the  Ohio  river,  but  had  returned  to  his  wife  and  inter- 
esting family  in  Maryland.  Yet,  soon  finding  his  sympathies 
were  excited  for  the  forlorn  inhabitants  of  the  wilderness  whom 
he  had  abandoned,  and  hearing  constant  reports  of  Indian 
cruelties,  he  speedily  raised  a  company  of  volunteers  and 
marched  back  to  their  assistance.  Having  reached  te  Catfish's 
Camp,"  on  the  spot  where  Washington,  in  Pennsylvania,  now 
stands,  his  advance  was  stopped  by  a  peremptory  and  insulting 
letter  from  Connolly,  in  which  he  was  ordered  to  dismiss  his 
men.  It  was  no  doubt  written  by  its  vile  author  in  order  to 
commence  the  systematic  plan  of  charging  the  Indian  difficulties 
of  1774  on  Michael  Cresap. 

Ungrateful  and  offensive  as  was  such  a  command  to  a  person 
of  Cresap's  peculiar  sensibility,  he  nevertheless  obeyed,  returned 
to  his  home,  and  dismissed  his  men  with  the  determination  to 
take  no  part  in  the  Indian  war,  but  to  let  the  commandant  at 
Pittsburgh  fight  it  out  as  he  best  could.  It  seems,  however, 
that  the  Earl  of  Dunmore  and  his  lieutenant  at  Pittsburgh  did 
n^t  agree  as  to  the  value  of  Michael's  services,  for,  when 
Cresap  reached  his  Maryland  home  he  found  Lord  Dunmore  at 
his  house,  where  he  tarried  some  days  in  friendly  intercourse  or 
consultation  with  the  young  pioneer;  and,  notwithstanding  his 
residence  in  Maryland,  the  British  nobleman  saw  fit  to  send 
him  forthwith  a  commission  as  Captain  in  the  militia  of  Hamp- 
shire county,  Virginia.  This  appointment,  dated  on  the  10th 
of  June,  reached  Cresap  opportunely,  and,  carrying  with  it,  as 
an  unsolicited  favor,  a  tacit  expression  of  the  Earl's  approbation 
of  his  conduct,  he  resolved  to  accept  it,  especially  as  he  was 
constantly  appealed  to  by  letters  from  his  old  companions  beyond 
the  mountains  to  hasten  to  their  succor. 1 

1  Jacob's  life  of  Cresap,  56,  63,  65. 


58 

As  soon  as  he  raised  his  standard  crowds  flocked  to  it,  and, 
indeed,  so  great  was  his  popularity  as  a  leader,  that  his  own 
command  overflowed  with  men  and  enabled  him  to  fill  up  com- 
pletely the  company  of  his  nephew,  and  partly  also  the  company 
of  Hancock  Lee.1  His  forces  were  then  united  under  the 
command  of  Major  Angus  McDonald,  who  had  been,  mean- 
while, organizing  the  western  people  on  the  Youghiogeny  and 
Monongahela  for  their  own  defence. 

A  campaign  was  also  planned  for  the  invasion  of  the  Indian 
country  west  of  the  Ohio.  "  Orders  were  immediately  sent  to 
Colonel  Andrew  Lewis,  of  Botetourt  county,  to  raise  with  all 
despatch,  four  regiments  of  militia  and  volunteers  from  the 
south-western  counties,  to  rendezvous  at  Camp  Union,  in  Green- 
brier county.  This  was  to  be  the  southern  division  of  the 
invading  army,  of  which  Lewis,,  a  veteran  of  the  French 
war,  was  made  commander.  He  was  ordered  to  march  down 
the  Great  Kenhawa  to  the  bank  of  the  Ohio,  and  there  to  join 
the  Earl  in  person.  In  the  meantime  Lord  Dunmore  was 
actively  engaged  in  raising  troops  in  the  northern  counties  west 
of  the  Blue  Ridge,  Jo  advance  from  Fort  Cumberland  by  way 
of  Red-Stone  Old  Fort,  to  the  Ohio  at  Pittsburgh,  whence  he 
was  to  descend  in  boats  to  the  Kenhawa.  Such  was  the  original 
plan  of  the  campaign."2 

McDonald,  agreeably  to  Dunmore 's  orders,  after  a  dreary 
inarch  through  the  wilderness,  had  rendezvoused  his  four  hun- 
dred men  at  Wheeling  creek  in  June,  and,  from  this  place,  it 
was  resolved  to  invade  the  Indian  territory  on  the  head  waters 
of  the  Muskingham,  and  to  destroy  the  Wappatomica  towns. 
The  results  of  this  expedition  were  not  of  remarkable  value  in 
the  campaign,  though  the  Indian  towns  were  destroyed  by  the 
invaders  after  the  savages  had  fled.  McDonald  and  his  men 
were  harassed  by  the  foe,  and  being  short  of  provisions,  returned 
with  despatch  to  Wheeling.8 

All  the  agricultural  operations  of  the  settlers  on  the  river  were 
of  course  broken  up,  and  had  I  time,  I  would  find  great  plea- 
sure in  narrating  the  campaign  of  the  divisions  under  Lewis 

1  Jacob's  life  of  Creaap,  57.  *  Monette,  vol.  1,  p.  374.  3  Id.,  p.  375. 


59 

and  Dunmore.  But  that  would  require  a  volume  rather  than  a 
discourse.1 — I  shall  content  myself  therefore  with  stating,  that 
the  promised  junction  of  Dunmore  with  Colonel  Lewis  was 
never  effected.  The  earl  changed  his  plan,  and  descending  the 
Ohio  from  Fort  Pitt  with  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  canoes  and 
several  large  boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  Hockhocking,  erected  a 
stockade  which  he  called  Fort  Gower,  and  thence,  ascended 
the  Hockhocking  to  the  Falls  near  the  present  town  of  Athens. 
From  that  spot  he  crossed  the  country  westwardly  to  the  Scioto, 
and,  on  its  eastern  side,  on  the  margin  of  the  Piqua  plains, 
near  Sippo  Creek,  entrenched  himself  in  a  regularly  fortified 
camp,  which,  in  honor  of  the  British  Queen,  he  named  Camp 
Charlotte. 

On  the  10th  of  October  the  great  and  decisive  battle  of  the 
campaign  was  fought  by  Lewis  at  " Point  Pleasant,"  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Kenhawa,  and  it  is  regarded  by  most  his- 
torians, as  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  and  well  fought  conflicts 
in  the  annals  of  Indian  warfare  in  the  West.  The  Indians, 
under  the  celebrated  Cornstalk  chieftain,  were  repulsed  with 
great  slaughter,  and  fled  precipitately  across  the  Ohio  to  their 
towns,  sixty  miles  up  the  Scioto.  In  the  meantime,  Dunmore 
had  sent  detachments  from  his  head-quarters  against  different 
settlements  on  the  neighboring  waters,  which  were  sacked  and 
burned;  and  such  had  been  the  bloody  character  of  the  battle 
at  Point  Pleasant  that  the  chiefs  hastened  to  appeal  for  peace  to 
Dunmore,  before  they  could  be  again  assailed  by  the  relentless 
Lewis  who  was  advancing  in  pursuit.     After  repeated  overtures 

1  The  following  are  the  principal  original  authorities  as  to  the  campaigns  and 
battles  during  the  Dunmore  war  of  1774:  I.  Col.  Stuart's  narrative,  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Historical  Soc.  Publications,  No.  1.  II.  Introduction  to  the  Hist,  of  the 
Colony  and  Ancient  Dominion  of  Va.,  by  C.  Campbell.  III.  Kercheval's 
Hist,  of  the  Valley  of  Va.  IV.  Doddridge's  Notes  on  the  Settlement  and  In- 
dian Wars  of  the  "W.  part  of  Va.  and  Penna.  V.  A.  S.  Withers 's  Chronicles 
of  Border  Warfare.  VI.  4th  Series  Am.  Archives,  vol.  1,  especially  p.  1016, 
et  seq.  VII.  Howe's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Ohio.  VIII.  Day's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Penna 
IX.  Howe's  Hist.  Coll.  of  Virginia.  X.  Chas.  Whittlesey's  Discourse  before 
the  Hist,  and  Phil.  Soc.  of  Ohio,  1840.  XI.  Burk's  Hist,  of  Va.  XII.  Drake's 
Book  of  the  Indians,  b.  5th,  42  et.  seq.  XIII.  Map  of  the  Ancient  Shawanese 
towns  on  the  Pickaway  Plains,  and  of  Camp  Charlotte  and  Lewis's  camp. 
Howe's  Ohio  Hist.  Coll.,  402. 


CO 

• 

and  the  destruction  of  several  towns  Dunmore  consented  to  an 
armistice  preparatory  to  a  treaty.  And  finally,  after  the  two 
divisions  had  nearly  effected  a  junction  the  Council  fire  was 
lighted,  the  Council  held,  and  peace  resolved  on. 

But  in  the  concluding  scene  of  this  bloody  drama,  the 
American  and  Indian  chiefs  could  no  where  find  one  of  its  most 
daring  and  relentless  actors, — a  man  whose  name  is  not  signal- 
ized any  where  in  open  battle  in  the  records  or  legends  of  the 
time, — who  was  not  in  the  conflict  at  Point  Pleasant,1 — but 
whose  "war- path"  and  weapon  were  only  traced  along  the 
bloody  trail  of  private  murder.  Logan  was  absent.  He  was  not 
satisfied.  He  had  taken,  perhaps,  some  thirty  scalps,8  but  the 
ghosts  of  his  murdered  relatives  were  scarcely  appeased  in  the 
"hunting  fields"  of  the  "spirit  land."  When  the  cause  of  his 
absence  was  demanded,  it  was  replied  that  he  was  yet  "like  a 
mad  dog;  his  bristles  were  up,  and  were  not  yet  quite  fallen; 
but  the  good  talk,  then  going  forward,  might  allay  them."  He 
said  he  was  "  a  warrior,  not  a  councillor,  and  would  not  come!  "  8 

The  continued  withdrawal  of  Logan  unquestionably  filled 
the  mind  of  Lord  Dunmore  with  concern  as  to  the  stability  of 
any  peace  which  might  be  made  with  the  Shawanese  without 
the  presence  of  a  man  who  had  shown  such  alacrity  and  blood- 
thirsty resolution  in  the  cruel  game  of  private  war. 

Accordingly,  John  Gibson,  the  alleged  father  *  of  the  Indian 
woman's  infant  rescued  at  the  Yellow  creek  massacre,  was 
despatched  by  the  Earl  to  seek  for  Logan.  If,  as  is  proba- 
ble, the  murdered  squaw  was  Logan's  sister,  no  messenger  could 
have  been  more  appropriately  selected.  He  found  him  some 
miles  off  at  a  hut  with  several  Indians;  and,  pretending,  in  the 
Indian  fashion,  that  he  had  nothing  in  view,  talked  and  drank 
wiih  them  until  Logan  touched  his  coat  stealthily,  and,  beckon- 
ing him  out  of  the  house,  led  him  into  a  solitary  thicket,  where 
sitting  down  on  a  log,  he  burst  into  tears  and  uttered  some  sen- 
tences of  impassioned  eloquence,  which  Gibson,— immediately 

1  Draper's  MSS. 

*  Jolly's  statement,  American  Journal  of  Art  and  Science,  vol.  xxxi,  p.  10. 
3  Gen.  Clurk's  letter,  Appendix  1;  Withers's  Border  Warfare,  136. 

*  See  Sappington's  testimony,  Jeff:  Appendix  No.  IV. 


61 

returning  to  the  British  camp — committed  to  paper.1  As  soon 
as  the  envoy  had  reduced  the  message  to  writing,  it  was  read 
aloud  in  the  council;  heard  by  the  soldiers;  and  proves  to  be 
neither  a  speech,  a  message,  nor  a  pledge  of  peace: — 

('  I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say  if  ever  he  entered  Logan's 
cabin  hungry  and  he  gave  him  not  meat;  if  ever  he  came  cold 
and  naked  and  he  clothed  him  not  ?  During  the  course  of  the 
last  long  and  bloody  war,  Logan  remained  idle  in  his  camp,  an 
advocate  for  peace.  Such  was  my  love  for  the  whites  that  my 
countrymen  pointed  as  I  passed  and  said :  '  Logan  is  the  friend 
of  the  white  man!'  I  had  even  thought  to  have  lived  with 
you,  but  for  the  injuries  of  one  man.  Colonel  Cresap,  the 
last  spring,  in  cold  blood  and  unprovoked,  murdered  all  the 
relations  of  Logan,  not  even  sparing  my  women  and  children. 
There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood  in  the  veins  of  any  living 
creature.  This  called  on  me  for  revenge.  I  have  sought  it. 
I  have  killed  many.  I  have  fully  glutted  my  vengeance.  For 
my  country,  I  rejoice  at  the  bearns  of  peace;  but  do  not  harbor 
a  thought  that  mine  is  the  joy  of  fear.  Logan  never  felt  fear. 
He  will  not  turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his  life.  Who  is  there  to 
mourn  for  Logan?     Not  one!"2 

Thus  the  famous  u  speech  of  Logan"  which  has  been  so 
long  celebrated  as  the  finest  specimen  of  Indian  eloquence, 
dwindles  into  a  reported  conversation  with,  or  message  from,  a 
cruel  and  blood-stained  savage;  excited  perhaps  when  he  deli- 
vered it  as  well  by  the  cruelties  he  had  committed  as  by  liquor; 
false  in  its  allegations  as  to  Cresap;  and,  at  last,  after  being 
conveyed  to  a  camp  about  six  miles  distant,3  in  the  memory  of 
an  Indian  trader,  written  down,  and  read  by  proxy  to  the  council 
of  Lord  Dunmore!  Gibson,  it  is  true,  states  in  his  testimony 
that  he  corrected  Logan  on  the  spot  when  he  made  the  charge 
against  Cresap,  for  he  knew  his  innocence,  but  either  the  Indian 

1  MS.  letter  from  my  friend  James  Dunlap  of  Pittsburgh,  and  Gibson's  testi- 
mony in  Jeff.  Appendix  No.  4. 

2  See  Appendix  No.  2,  for  criticisms  and  commentaries  on  this  speech  and  its 
history. 

3  See  map  of  the  Indian  towns  and  British  camps  on  the  Pickaway  plains — 
Ohio  Hist.  Coll.  p.  403. 

9 


(>2 

did  not  withdraw  it  or  the  messenger  felt  himself  compelled  to 
deliver  it  as  originally  framed.'  When  it  was  read  in  camp, 
the  pioneer  soldiers  knew  it  to  be  false  as  to  Michael  Cresap; 
but  it  only  produced  a  laugh  in  the  crowd,  which  displeased  the 
Maryland  Captain.  George  Rogers  Clark,  who  was  near,  ex- 
claimed, that  "he  must  be  a  very  great  man  as  the  Indians 
filmed  every  thing  that  happened  on  his  shoulders!"  The 
Captain  smiled  and  replied  that  "he  had  a  great  inclination  to 
tomahawk  Greathouse  for  the  murder!"2 

It  is  time  to  drop  the  curtain  on  these  tragic  scenes.  The 
Indian  fight  was  over; — peace  was  made  with  the  savage 
Shawanese,  but  a  more  heartless  war  was  about  to  occur  with 
the  christian  Briton. 

Cresap  returned  to  his  favorite  Maryland,  and  spent  the  latter 
part  of  the  autumn  of  1774  and  succeeding  winter,  in  the  repose 
of  a  domestic  circle  from  which  he  had  been  so  long  estranged ; 
but,  in  the  early  spring  of  1775,  he  hired  another  band  of  young 
men,  and  repaired  again  to  the  Ohio  to  finish  the  work  he  com- 
menced the  year  before.  He  did  not  stop  at  his  old  haunts,  but 
descended  to  Kentucky,  where  he  made  many  improvements. 
Being  ill,  however,  he  left  his  workmen  and  departed  for  his 
home  over  the  mountains  in  order  to  rest  and  recover  perfectly. 
On  his  way  across  the  Alleghany  mountain  he  was  met  by  a 
faithful  friend  with  a  message  stating  that  he  had  been  appointed 
by  the  committee  of  safety  at  Frederick,  a  Captain  to  command 
one  of  the  two  rifle  companies  required  from  Maryland  by  a 
resolution  of  Congress.  Experienced  officers,  and  the  very  best 
men  that  could  be  procured,  were  demanded. 

This  was  in  July,  1775,  and  already  on  the  1st  of  August, 
in  the  same  year,  we  find  by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter 
to  a  gentleman  in  Philadelphia,  dated  at  Fredericktown,  Mary- 
land, on  that  day,  that  the  new  revolutionary  hero  was  prepared 
to  take  the  field. 


i  See  Gibson's  testimony  in  Jefferson 'a  4th  Appendix. 

•See  Clark's  letter,  Appendix  1.     Chirk   was  then  a  Captain  by  commission 
from  DunmoTc,  dated  May  2d,  1774. 


63 

"  Notwithstanding  the  urgency  of  my  business,  I  have  been 
detained  three  days  in  this  place  by  an  occurrence  truly  agree- 
able. I  have  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  Captain  Michael 
Cresap  marching  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  company  of  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  and  thirty  men  from  the  mountains  and 
backwoods,  painted  like  Indians,  armed  with  tomahawks  and 
rifles,  dressed  in  hunting  shirts  and  moccasins,  and  though  some 
of  them  had  travelled  near  eight  hundred  miles  from  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio,  they  seemed  to  walk  light  and  easy,  and  not  with 
less  spirit  than  at  the  first  hour  of  their  march.  Health  and 
vigor,  after  what  they  had  undergone,  declared  them  to  be  inti- 
mate with  hardship  and  familiar  with  danger.  Joy  and  satis- 
faction were  visible  in  the  crowd  that  met  them.  Had  Lord 
North  been  present,  and  been  assured  that  the  brave  leader  could 
raise  thousands  of  such  like  to  defend  his  country,  what  think 
you,  would  not  the  hatchet  and  the  block  have  intruded  on  his 
mind?  I  had  an  opportunity  of  attending  the  Captain  during 
his  stay  in  town,  and  watched  the  behaviour  of  his  men,  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  treated  them;  for  it  seems  that  all  who  go 
out  to  war  under  him  do  not  only  pay  the  most  willing  obedience 
to  him  as  their  commander,  but,  in  every  instance  of  distress 
look  up  to  him  as  their  friend  and  father.  A  great  part  of  his 
time  was  spent  in  listening  to  and  relieving  their  wants,  without 
any  apparent  sense  of  fatigue  and  trouble.  When  complaints 
were  before  him,  he  determined  with  kindness  and  spirit, 
and  on  every  occasion  condescended  to  please  without  losing  his 
dignity. 

"  Yesterday  the  company  were  supplied  with  a  small  quantity 
of  powder  from  the  magazine,  which  wanted  airing,  and  was 
not  in  good  order  for  rifles ;  in  the  evening,  however,  they  were 
drawn  out  to  show  the  gentlemen  of  the  town  their  dexterity  at 
shooting.  A  clapboard  with  a  mark  the  size  of  a  dollar,  was 
put  up;  they  began  to  fire  off-hand,  and  the  bystanders  were 
surprised,  few  shots  being  made  that  were  not  close  to  or  in  the 
paper.  When  they  had  shot  for  a  time  in  this  way,  some  lay 
on  their  backs,  some  on  their  breast  or  side,  others  ran  twenty 
or  thirty  steps,  and  firing,  appeared  to  be  equally  certain  of  the 
mark.     With  this  performance  the  company  were  more  than 


64 

satisfied,  when  a  young  man  took  up  the  board  in  his  hand,  not 
by  the  end  hut  by  the  side,  and  holding  it  up,  his  brother  walked 
to  the  distance  and  very  coolly  shot  into  the  white ;  laying  down 
his  rifle,  he  took  the  board  and  holding  it  as  it  was  held  before, 
the  second  brother  shot  as  the  first  had  done.  By  this  exercise 
I  was  more  astonished  than  pleased.  But  will  you  believe  me 
when  I  tell  you  that,  one  of  the  men  took  the  board,  and  placing 
it  between  his  legs,  stood  with  his  back  to  a  tree  while  another 
drove  the  centre! 

"  What  would  a  regular  army  of  considerable  strength  in  the 
forests  of  America  do  with  one  thousand  of  these  men,  who 
want  nothing  to  preserve  their  health  and  courage  but  water 
from  the  spring,  with  a  little  parched  corn,  with  what  they  may 
easily  procure  in  hunting;  and  who,  wrapped  in  their  blankets, 
in  the  damp  of  night,  would  choose  the  shade  of  a  tree  for  their 
covering  and  the  earth  for  their  bed."1 

With  this  first  company  of  riflemen,  although  in  bad  health, 
Captain  Cresap  proceeded  to  Boston,  and  joined  the  American 
army  under  the  command  of  General  Washington.  Admonished, 
however,  by  continued  illness,  and  feeling  perhaps  some  dread 
forebodings  of  his  fate,  he  endeavored  again  to  reach  his  home 
among  the  mountains,  but  finding  himself  too  sick  to  pro- 
ceed he  stopped  in  New  York,  where  he  died  of  fever  on  the 
18th  of  October,  1775,  at  the  early  age  of  33.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  his  remains,  attended  by  a  vast  concourse  of  people, 
were  buried  with  military  honors  in  Trinity  church-yard.  Let 
us  deepen  and  not  deface  the  meritorious  inscription  on  his 
humble  and  forgotten  grave!  * 

It  is  needless  to  speculate  upon  what  such  a  man  might  have 
become  had  he  been  spared  during  the  war.  Some  of  those 
who  engaged  in  it  as  subordinates  to  him  retired  at  its  conclu- 

1  American  Archives,  vol.  3,  p.  2,  transferred  from  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette 
of  Aug.  16,  1775. 

'Compare  Jacob's  Life  of  Cresap,  p.  98,  and  The  Maryland  Journal  of 
Wednesday,  Nov.  1,  1775.  In  the  latter  there  is  a  letter  from  N.  York,  dated 
the  26th  of  October,  giving  an  account  of  his  death  and  burial. 


G5 

sion  with  high  commissions  granted  for  services  which  no  hardy 
warrior  of  the  Revolution  was  more  capable  of  yielding  to  the 
cause  of  his  country  than  Michael  Cresap. ' 

Let  us  turn  once  more  for  a  moment  to  the  Indian  who  has 
pursued  the  fame  of  our  Marylander  like  a  blighting  shadow. 
We  left  him, — confessedly  fond  of  the  "fire-water,"  in  his  con- 
versations with  the  Missionary  Heckw elder,  and  tippling  before  he 
became  eloquent  with  Gibson.  His  last  years  were  melancholy 
indeed.  He  wandered  from  tribe  to  tribe,  a  solitary  and  lonely 
man.  Dejected  by  the  loss  of  friends  and  decay  of  his  peo- 
ple, he  resorted  constantly  to  the  stimulus  of  strong  drink  to 
drown  his  sorrow. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1775,  Captain  James  Wood  having 
been  sent  with  a  single  companion  to  invite  the  western  Indians 
to  a  treaty  at  Fort  Pitt,  encountered  Logan  and  several  other 
Mingoes  who  had  lately  been  prisoners  at  that  post.  He  found 
them  all  deeply  intoxicated  and  inquisitive  as  to  his  designs. 
To  his  appeal  the  savages  made  no  definite  reply,  but  repre- 
sented the  tribes  as  very  angry.  The  wayfarers  bivouacked 
near  the  Indian  town,  and  about  ten  o'clock  at  night  one  of  the 
savages  stole  into  the  camp  and  stamped  upon  the  sleeper's 
head.  Starting  to  his  feet  and  arousing  his  companion,  Wood 
and  the  interpreter  found  several  Indians  around  them  armed 
with  knives  and  tomahawks.  For  a  while  the  Americans  seem 
to  have  pacified  the  red  men,  but  as  a  friendly  squaw  apprized 
them  that  the  savages  meditated  their  death,  they  stole  away 
for  concealment  in  the  recesses  of  the  forest.  When  they 
returned  again  to  the  Indian  town  after  daylight,  Logan  repeated 
the  foul  story  of  the  murder  of  his  "  mother,  sister,  and  all  his 
relations"  by  the  people  of  Virginia.  By  turns  he  wept  and 
sang.  Then  he  dwelt  and  gloated  over  the  revenge  he  had 
taken  for  his  wrongs;  and  finally,  he  told  Wood  that  several  of 
his  fellows,  who  had  long  been  prisoners  at  Fort  Pitt,  desired  to 
kill  the  American  messengers,  and  demanded  if  the  forester  was 
afraid?     aJNo!"  replied  Wood,  "we  are  but  two  lone  men, 

•McSherry's  Hist,  of  Maryland,  p.  186,  and  Jacob's  Life,  &c. 


66 

■OH  to  deliver  the  message  we  have  given  to  the  tribes.  We 
tan  in  your  power;  we  have  no  means  of  defence,  and  you  may 
kill  us  if  you  think  proper!"  "Then,"  exclaimed  Logan, 
apparently  confounded  by  their  coolness  and  courage,  "you 
shall  not  be  hurt!" — nor  were  they,  for  the  ambassadors  departed 
unmolested  to  visit  the  Wyandotte  towns.1 

We  next  hear  of  Logan  in  the  autumn  of  1778,  when  the 
famous  Pioneer,  Simon  Kenton,  who  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  savages,  spent  two  nights  with  his  captors  and  Logan  on  the 
head  waters  of  the  Scioto. 

"Well,  young  man,"  said  Logan  addressing  Kenton,  the 
night  of  his  arrival,  "  these  chaps  seem  very  mad  with  you." — 
"Yes,"  replied  Kenton,  "they  appear  so — "  "But  don't  be 
disheartened,"  interrupted  Logan,  "I  am  a  great  chief;  you 
are  to  go  to  Sandusky;  they  talk  of  burning  you  there;  but  I 
will  send  two  runners  to-morrow  to  speak  good  for  you!"  And 
so  he  did,  for  on  the  morrow,  having  detained  the  hostile  party, 
he  despatched  the  promised  envoys  to  Sandusky,  though  he 
made  no  report  to  Kenton  of  their  success  when  they  returned  at 
nightfall.  The  runners,  by  Logan's  orders,  interceded  with 
Captain  Druyer,  an  influential  British  Indian-agent  at  San- 
dusky, who  with  great  difficulty  ransomed  the  prisoner  and  saved 
him  from  the  brutal  sacrifice  of  the  stake.* 

In  the  fall  of  1779,  Logan  appears  again  to  have  cast  aside 
his  humanity,  and  is  found  at  his  old  haunts  on  the  Holston, 
engaged  in  the  savage  employment  of  scalping,  or  at  least,  of 
taking  prisoners.3  And,  in  June,  1780,  when  Captain  Bird,  of 
Detroit,  with  a  large  body  of  British  regulars,  Canadians  and 
Indians,  invaded  Kentucky,  captured  Ruddell's  and  Martin's 
Stations,  and  carried  off  a  large  number  of  prisoners,  Logan 
was  one  of  the  bloody  and  wanton  marauders.4 

1  L.  C.  Draper's  MSS.  Journal  of  Captain  James  Wood.  Jacob's  Cresap, 
85.  IVth  Am.  Archives,  vol.  3,  p.  77.  Mrs.  W.  C.  Rives's  Tales  and 
Souvenirs,  preface  and  p.  146. 

*  Draper's  MSS.  McDonald's  memoir  of  Kenton;  McClung's  Sketches  of 
Western  Adventure. 

2  MS.  letter  in  Mr.  Draper's  collection. 

*  American  Pioneer,  1  vol.  p.  359.  - 


67 

Our  Indian  hero  must  now  have  been  well  nigh  fifty-five 
years  of  age,1  and  it  may  be  supposed  that  so  restless  and  fitful 
a  life  of  fiery  impetuosity  and  artificial  stimulus,  was  drawing 
near  a  close  from  natural  causes.  But  his  chequered  career  of 
crime,  passion,  and  bastard  humanity,  with  all  its  finer  features 
obliterated  by  the  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  drinks,  was  doomed 
to  end  tragically. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  inroad  of  Bird's  British  m)Tmidons 
and  Indian  allies  in  1780,  that  Logan,  at  an  Indian  council 
held  at  Detroit,  became  wildly  drunk,  and,  in  the  midst  of 
delirious  passion,  prostrated  his  wife  by  a  sudden  blow.  She 
fell  before  him  apparently  dead.  In  a  moment,  the  horrid 
deed  partly  sobered  the  savage,  who,  thinking  he  had  killed  her, 
fled  precipitately  lest  the  stem  Indian  penalty  of  blood  for  blood 
might  befall  him  at  the  hand  of  some  relative  of  the  murdered 
woman.  While  travelling  alone,  and  still  confused  by  liquor 
and  the  fear  of  vengeance,  he  was  suddenly  overtaken  in  the 
wilderness  between  Detroit  and  Sandusky,  by  a  troop  of  Indians 
with  their  squaws  and  children,  in  the  midst  of  whom  he  re- 
cognized his  nephew  or  cousin  Tod-kah-dohs.  Bewildered 
as  he  was,  he  imagined  that  the  lawful  avenger  pursued  him  in 
the  form  of  his  relative, — for  the  Indian  rule  permits  a  relation 
to  perform  the  retributive  act  of  revenge  for  murder, — and  rashly 
bursting  forth  in  frantic  passion,  he  exclaimed  that  the  whole 
party  should  fall  beneath  his  weapons.  Tod-kah-dohs,  seeing 
their  danger,  and  observing  that  Logan  was  well  armed,  told 
his  companions  that  their  only  safety  was  in  getting  the  advan- 
tage of  the  desperate  man  by  prompt  action.  But  Logan  was 
quite  as  alert  as  his  adversary; — yet,  whilst  leaping  from  his 
horse  to  execute  his  dreadful  threat,  Tod-kah-dohs  levelled  a  shot 
gun  within  a  few  feet  of  the  savage  and  killed  him  on  the  spot!2 

1  Draper's  MSS. 

*  Tod-kah-dohs  or  The  Searcher,  originally  from  Conestoga,  and  probably  a 
son  of  Logan's  sister  residing  there,  died,  about  1844,  at  the  Cold  Spring  on 
the  Alleghany  Seneca  Reservation,  nearly  100  years  old.  He  was  better  known 
as  Captain  Logan,  and  was  either  a  nephew  or  cousin  of  the  celebrated  Indian. 
He  left  children,  two  of  whom  have  been  seen  by  Mr.  Draper;  so  that,  in  spite 
of  Logan's  speech,  some  of  his  "blood  "  still  "runs  "  in  human  veins,  77  years 


68 


When  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  his  Notes  on  Virginia  in  the  years 
1 TS1  and  1782,  he  was  anxious  to  disprove  the  theory  of  Buffon, 
Raynal  and  others,  that  animal  nature, — whether  in  man  or 
beast,  native  or  adoptive,  physical  or  moral, — degenerated  in 
America.  Whilst  treating  of  the  Aborigines,  he  desired  to 
present  a  specimen  of  their  intellectual  powers,  and,  finding  in 
a  pocket  book  a  memorandum,  made  in  the  year  1774,  of  the 
alleged  "speech"  of  Logan,  as  taken  down  by  him  at  that 
time  from  the  lips  of  some  one  whom  he  did  not  recollect,  he 
inserted  it  in  his  notes,  accompanied  by  a  slender  narrative  of 
the  events  that  called  it  forth. »  He  spoke  of  Cresap  as  "  a  man 
infamous  for  the  many  murders  he  had  committed  on  those  much 
injured  people,"  and  charged  the  cold  blooded  murder  of  Logan's 
family  upon  the  Marylander  and  his  allies.  In  a  future  edition 
he  modified  but  did  not  entirely  withdraw  this  charge,2  yet  care- 
less writers  and  historians,  down  to  the  present  day,  have  con- 
tinued to  regard  the  Indian's  remembered  message  as  a  genuine 
speech  solemnly  delivered  in  council,  and  reiterate  its  assertions 
as  to  the  innocent  Cresap!     Poetry,  even,  has  dwelt  sweetly  on 

after  the  Yellow  creek  tragedy.  The  substance  of  this  narrative  was  given  me 
in  MS.  by  Mr.  Lyman  C.  Draper,  who  received  it  from  Dah-gan-on-do  or 
Captain  Decker,  as  it  was  related  to  him  by  Tod-kah-dohs,  who  killed  Logan. 
"Decker,"  Bays  Mr.  Draper,  "was  a  venerable  Seneca  Indian,  and  the  best 
Indian  Chronicler  I  have  met  with.  His  narratives  are  generally  sustained  by 
other  evidence,  and  never  seem  confused  or  improbable." — Logan's  wife,  who 
was  a  Shawanese,  and  had  no  children  by  him,  did  not  die  in  consequence  of 
her  husband's  blow,  but  recovered  and  returned  to  her  people. — Compare 
Heckwelder's  account,  in  Jefferson's  Appendix.  A  different  version  of  Logan's 
death  is  given,  also,  in  Howe's  Ohio  Hist.  Coll.,  p.  409,  upon  the  authority 
of  "Good  Hunter,"  an  aged  Mingo,  who  is  said  to  have  been  his  familiar  ac- 
quaintance. In  this  account  he  is  represented  to  have  been  sitting  before  a  camp 
fire  near  Detroit  in  Michigan,  with  his  blanket  drawn  over  his  head,  his  elbows 
resting  on  his  knees  and  his  head  upon  his  hands,  buried  perhaps  in  liquor  or 
profound  meditation,  when  an  Indian,  whom  he  had  offended,  stole  behind  him 
and  buried  a  tomahawk  in  his  brains! — See  also,  Vigne's  Six  Months  in 
America,  Philadelphia,  edition  1833,  p.  30,  for  another  alleged  version  of  his 
death  from  the  hand  of  the  same  relative.  Capt.  Decker — Dah-gan-on-do — has 
lived  all  his  eventful  life  of  over  one  hundred  years  on  the  Alleghany,  and 
knew  Logan  personally. — Draper  MSS. 

•Jeff.  Notes  on  Va.,  Appendix  IV,  p.  30. 

*  Jeff.  Notes  on  Va.,  Appendix  IV.     Stone's  Life  of  Brant,  vol.  1,  p.  39. 


69 

the  theme.  Logan  seems  to  have  been  the  original  whence 
Campbell  derived  the  fine  conception  of  his  Outalissi,1  and  he 
has  paraphrased  in  rhyme  the  passionate  outburst:8 

"  'Gainst  Brant  himself  I  went  to  battle  forth: — 
"Accursed  Brant!  he  left  of  all  my  tribe 
"Nor  man,  nor  child,  nor  thing  of  living  birtii! 
"No! — not  the  dog  that  watched  my  household  hearth 
"Escaped  that  night  of  death  upon  our  plains! 
"All  perished — I,  alone,  am  left  on  earth! 
"To  whom  nor  relative,  nor  blood  remains, — 
"NO!  not  a  kindred  drop  that  runs  in  human  veins!  " 

Mr.  Jefferson's  illustration  obtained  greater  fame  and  cur- 
rency than  he  expected.  It  has  become  incorporated  with  our 
English  literature.  Indian  error  and  obstinacy  converted  this 
Maryland  rnan  into  a  brutal  monster ;  but  I  have  striven  to 
restore  him  to  his  original  and  meritorious  manhood.  Imagina- 
tion transformed  the  savage  into  a  romantic  myth ;  yet  it  has  been 
my  task  not  only  to  reduce  this  myth  to  a  man,  but  to  paint 
him  degraded  by  cruelties  and  intemperance  even  beneath  the 
scale  of  an  aboriginal  birth-right.  Indian  instincts,  rekindled 
by  wrongs  and  the  flame  of  the  "  fire-  water,  "blighted  a  nature 
which  at  its  dawn  promised  a  noble  and  generous  career.  In 
his  intercourse  with  white  men  Logan  lost  nothing  but  the 
virtues  of  a  savage,  while  unfortunately  he  gained  from  civili- 
zation naught  but  its  destructive  vices. 

'Graham's  Hist.  U.  S.,  4th  vol.,  p.  341. 

sStone's  Life  of  Brant,  2,  p.  525;  Gertrude  of  Wyoming,  Part  III,  stanza 
xvii.  In  his  notes  Campbell  repeats  the  old  Logan  and  Cresap  story,  as 
usual;  but,  in  later  editions  of  his  work  retracts  his  errors  against  Brant. 
Brant's  son,  when  in  London,  pointed  ouf  to  the  poet  the  slanders  and  injustice 
of  his  stanzas; — nevertheless  he  left  them  to  posterity  in  the  text  of  his  poem 
though  he  qualified  them  in  the  notes.  "The  name  of  Brant,  therefore,"  says 
Campbell,  "remains  in  my  poem,  a  pure  and  declared  character  of  fiction."  Yet, 
a  thousand  persons  read  the  poem  while  one  only  will  peruse  the  antidote  in 
the  notes! — The  fame  of  that  dishonored  Indian  will  descend  to  posterity  with 
the  taint  of  crime  imputed  by  the  poet,  as  the  name  of  Cresap  is  disgraced 
from  age  to  age  by  a  mendacious  morsel  of  Indian  eloquence ! 

10 


APPENDIX   No.    1 


General  George  Rogers  Clark's  Letter. 

1  must  express  my  hearty  thanks  to  my  friend  Mr.  Lyman  C.  Draper  for 
his  kindness  in  sending  to  me  valuable  memoranda  and  extracts  from  papers 
which  he  has  collected  during  many  years  of  labor  in  gathering  the  materials 
for  his  history  of  the  Western  Pioneers.  These  documents  have  been  cheer- 
fully furnished  me  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  liberal  man,  who,  as  a  historian,  is 
anxious  to  ascertain  or  at  least  to  approach  the  truth.  In  the  marginal  notes  of 
my  Discourse  I  have  freely  quoted  from  and  credited  these  manuscript  sources. 
I  shall  now  present  a  copy  of  General  George  Rogers  Clark's  Letter,  upon 
which  Mr.  Draper  relies  with  great  confidence  as  disclosing  an  accurate  account 
of  Cresap'8  conduct  on  the  Ohio  in  1774;  but,  before  I  offer  it  for  the  reader's 
consideration,  I  feel  bound  to  mention  that  it  appears  to  have  been  drawn  forth 
in  1798,  by  a  letter  from  the  late  Dr.  Samuel  Brown,  (a  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson,) 
of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  who  was  for  many  years  a  distinguished  professor  in 
Transylvania  University. 

In  1839,  the  late  Leonard  Bliss,  Jr.,  addressed  to  the  Editor  of  the  Louisville 
Literary  News  Letter  the  following  note: — 

"To  the  Editor  of  the  Louisville  Literary  News  Letter: 

"Among  the  papers  of  Gen.  George  Rogers  Clark,  now  in  my  possession, 
I  have  met  with  the  following  letter  of  his,  detailing  the  circumstances  connected 
with  the  murder  of  Logan's  family,  which  induced  the  Mingo  Chief,  in  his  cel- 
ebrated speech  to  Lord  Dunmore,  to  charge  the  atrocity  upon  Captain  Cresap, 
and  also  showing  clearly,  that  Crestrp  was  innocent  of  the  crime  alleged,  and, 
so  far  from  being  the  monster  of  cruelty  represented  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  by 
subsequent  writers  who  have  followed  his  authority,  that  he  was  a  prudent  and 
humane  man,  and  'an  advocate  of  peace.'  The  error  appears  to  have  origi- 
nated in  a  mistake  with  Logan,  and  to  have  been  adopted  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  in 
his  version  of  the  story,  from  the  Speech.  The  high  authority  of  the  'Notes 
on  Virginia,' and  the  fame  of  Logan 's  Speech,  have  immortalized  the  memory  of 
Cresap;  but  it  has  thus  far  been  an  'immortality  of  infamy,' — how  ill-deserved, 
the  following  letter  will  show.  And  as  the  descendants  of  Cresap  are  still 
numerous  in  the  United  States,  I  beg  you  to  publish  it,  with  this  note,  in  the 


71 

'Literary  News  Letter,'  both  as  an  act  of  justice  to  them,  and  to  correct  an 
historical  error.  The  letter,  of  which  this  is  a  literal  copy,  is  found  in  a  Letter- 
Book  of  Gen.  Clark,  in  his  own  hand-writing;  and  is,  probably,  the  original 
draft.  General  Clark,  at  the  date  of  the  letter,  resided  in  Louisville  or  its 
immediate  vicinity. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"LEONARD   BLISS,  Jr." 
"Louisville  College,  Jan.  10,  1839." 


When  this  letter  appeared  accompanied  by  Clark's,  some  doubt  was  ex- 
pressed as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  latter,  which,  though  asserted  to  have  been 
found  in  Clark's  hand-writing  in  his  letter  book,  was  not  addressed  to  any  one. 
Some  time  since  many  of  the  original  MSS.  and  papers  of  Gen.  Clark  came 
into  the  possession  of  Mr.  Draper,  and  "among  them  he  found  the  following 
from  Dr.  S.  Brown,  dated  on  the  15th  of  May,  1798;  and  in  all  likelihood  the 
reply  of  the  General  was  given  to  it  on  the  11th  of  June  in  the  same  year.  The 
references  in  both  letters  to  Mr.  Thruston,  prove  that  Clark's  is  an  answer  to 
Brown's: 

Dr.  Samuel  Brown's  Letter. 

"Lexington,  May  15th,  1798. 
"Dear  Sir: 

"At  the  request  of  our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Jefferson,  I  enclose  you  a  letter 
of  Mr.  Luther  Martin  on  the  subject  of  the  murder  of  Logan's  family,  together 
with  a  vindication  of  the  account  of  that  transaction  as  related  in  the  Notes  on 
Virginia.  I  am  sorry  that  it  has  not  been  possible  to  procure,  in  this  place, 
the  Baltimore  paper  which  contains  Mr.  Martin's  first  publication  on  this  ques- 
tion. The  charges  there  exhibited  against  Mr.  Jefferson  are  much  more  specific 
and  more  virulent  than  they  appear  to  be  in  the  letter  now  forwarded  to  you. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  whole  of  the  correspondence  may  have  come 
to  your  hands  by  some  other  route.  At  all  events,  I  presume  Mr.  Jefferson's 
answer  will  sufficiently  apprise  you  of  the  nature  of  the  dispute,  and  bring  to 
your  recollection  such  facts  and  circumstances  as  will  tend  to  elucidate  the 
doubtful  and  obscure  parts  of  that  interesting  story. 

"I  remember  to  have  had  some  conversation  with  you  respecting  the  affair 
when  at  your  house,  and  although  the  variety  and  important  nature  of  the 
events  which  your  conversations  suggested,  have  in  some  degree  effaced  from 
my  memory  that  distinct  recollection  of  this  particular  event  which  I  ought  to 
have,  before  I  should  attempt  to  communicate  your  account  of  it  to  Mr.  Jeffer" 
son,  yet  still  I  am  pretty  certain  that  as  you  related  the  story,  any  mistakes 
that  have  crept  into  the  Notes  on  Virginia  are  not  attributable  to  Mr.  Jefferson, 
but  to  Logan  himself,  or  to  those  by  whom  his  speech  was  originally  published. 
I  think  you  informed  me  that  you  were  with  Cresap  at  the  time  Logan's 
family  was  murdered,  that  Cresap  was  not  the  author  of  that  massacre;  that 
Logan  actually  delivered  the  speech  as  reported  in  the  Notes   on   Virginia. 


72 

The  Memoirs  you  have  written  of  your  own  adventures,  probably  contain  a 
full  statement  of  the  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  the  dispute.  A  transcript 
from  those  Memoirs,  or  a  statement  of  the  business  by  you  from  memory, 
would  be  highly  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Jefferson  and  all  his  friends,  and  I  am  sure 
would  be  decisive  evidence  in  the  mind  of  every  man  of  candor  and  liberality. 

"  I  feel,  and  I  am  confident  you  must  feel,  sensibly  hurt  at  a  charge  which  can, 
in  any  degree,  disturb  the  repose,  or  sully  the  reputation  of  that  truly  great 
and  excellent  man.  I  know  you  respect  and  esteem  him,  and  I  am  really 
happy  in  assuring  you  that  his  respect  and  regard  for  you  are  equally  cordial 
and  sincere:  of  this,  his  last  letter  to  me  contains  the  most  ample  assurances. 
For  myself,  sensible  that  I  have  little  which  could  entitle  me  to  your  friendship, 
I  shall  endeavor  by  my  willingness  to  serve  you,  to  convince  you  that  I  am 
truly  thankful  for  those  attentions  I  have  received  from  you.  And  I  shall  con- 
sider myself  singularly  fortunate,  if  in  any  respect,  I  can  be  the  means  of  ren- 
dering you  and  Mr.  Jefferson  mutually  useful  to  each  other.  To  your  country 
you  both  have  already  been,  and  hav&it  always  in  your  power  to  be  singularly 
useful. 

"  Mr.  Thruston  will  do  me  the  favor  of  carrying  this  letter,  and  I  hope  you 
will  find  leisure  to  prepare  an  account  of  Logan's  speech  before  his  return.  I 
could  wish  to  transmit  it  to  Philadelphia  before  Congress  rises,  as  it  is  possible 
the  conveyance  to  Monticello  will  not  be  so  safe. 

"  Do  me  the  favor  of  presenting  my  most  respectful  compliments  to  the  family, 
and  be  assured  that  I  am, 

"With  sentiments  of  real  respect, 

"Yr.  mo.  obt., 

"SAM.  BROWN." 

Oknl.  George  R.  Clark, 

Jefferson  County,  Ky. 


General  George  Rogers  Clark's  Letter. 

"June  17,  ^8. 
"Dear  Sir: 

"Your  letter  of  last  month,  honored  by  Mr.  Thruston,  was  handed  me  by 
that  gentleman.  The  matter  contained  in  it  and  in  the  enclosed  papers  was  new 
to  me.  I  felt  hurt  that  Mr.  Jefferson  should  be  attacked  with  so  much  virulence 
on  account  of  an  error,  of  which  I  know  he  was  not  the  author.  Except  a  few 
mistakes  in  names  of  persons,  places,  etc.,  the  story  of  Logan,  as  related  by 
Mr.  Jefferson  is  substantially  true.  I  was  of  the  first  and  last  of  the  active  offi- 
cers who  bore  the  weight  of  that  war;  and  on  perusing  some  old  papers  of  that 
date,  1  find  some  memoirs.  But  independent  of  them,  I  have  a  perfect  recollec- 
tion of  every  transaction  relating  to  Logan's  story.  The  conduct  of  Cresap  I 
am  perfectly  acquainted  with.  He  was  not  the  author  of  that  murder,  but  a 
family  by  the  name  of  Greathouse; — though  some  transactions  that  happened 
under  the  mmmand  of  Captain  Cresap,  a  few  days  previous  to  the  murder  of 
Logan's  family,  gave  him  sufficient  ground  to  suppose  that  it  was  Cresap  that 
had  done  the  injury. 


73 

"To  enable  you  fully  to  understand  the  subject  of  your  inquiries,  I  shall 
relate  the  incidents  that  gave  rise  to  Logan's  suspicion;  and  will  enable  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  do  justice  to  himself  and  the  Cresap  family,  by  being  made  fully 
acquainted  with  the  facts. 

"This  country  was  explored  in  1773.  A  resolution  was  formed  to  make  a 
settlement  the  spring  following,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Kenaway  appointed 
the  place  of  general  rendezvous,  in  order  to  descend  the  river  from  thence  in  a 
body.  Early  in  the  spring  the  Indians  had  done  some  mischief.  Reports  from 
their  towns  were  alarming,  which  deterred  many.  About  eighty  or  ninety  men 
only  met  at  the  appointed  rendezvous,  where  we  lay  some  days. 

"A  small  party  of  hunters,  that  lay  about  ten  miles  below  us,  were  fired  upon 
by  the  Indians,  whom  the  hunters  beat  back,  and  returned  to  camp.  This  and 
many  other  circumstances  led  us  to  believe,  that  the  Indians  were  determined 
on  war.  The  whole  party  was  enrolled,  and  determined  to  execute  their  pro- 
ject of  forming  a  settlement  in  Kentucky,  as  we  had  every  necessary  store  that 
could  be  thought  of.  An  Indian  town  called  the  Horsehead  Bottom,  on  the 
Scioto  and  near  its  mouth,  lay  nearly  in  our  way.  The  determination  was  to 
cross  the  country  and  surprise  it.  Who  was  to  command?  was  the  question. 
There  were  but  few  among  us  that  had  experience  in  Indian  warfare,  and  they 
were  such  that  we  did  not  choose  to  be  commanded  by.  We  knew  of  Captain 
Cr.esap  being  on  the  river  about  fifteen  miles  above  us,  with  some  hands,  settling 
a  plantation ;  and  that  he  had  concluded  to  follow  us  to  Kentucky  as  soon  as  he 
had  fixed  there  his  people.  We  also  knew  that  he  had  been  experienced  in  a 
former  war.  He  was  proposed;  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to  send  for 
him  to  command  the  party.  Messengers  were  despatched,  and  in  half  an  hour 
returned  with  Cresap.  He  had  heard  of  our  resolution  by  some  of  his  hunters, 
that  had  fallen  in  with  ours,  and  had  set  out  to  come  to  us. 

"We  now  thought  our  army,  as  we  called  it,  complete,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  Indians  sure.  A  council  was  called,  and,  to  our  astonishment,  our  in- 
tended commander-in-chief  was  the  person  that  dissuaded  us  from  the  enter- 
prize.  He  said  that  appearances  were  very  suspicious,  but  there  was  no  fcer- 
tainty  of  a  war.  That  if  we  made  the  attempt  proposed,  he  had  no  doubt  of 
our  success,  but  a  war  would,  at  any  rate,  be  the  result,  and  that  we  should  be 
blamed  for  it;  and  perhaps  justly.  But  if  we  were  determined  to  proceed,  he 
would  lay  aside  all  considerations,  send  to  his  camp  for  his  people,  and  share 
our  fortunes.  He  was  then  asked  what  he  would  advise.  His  answer  was, 
that  we  should  return  to  Wheeling,  as  a  convenient  post,  to  hear  what  was 
going  forward.  That  a  few  weeks  would  determine.  As  it  was  early  in  the 
spring,  if  we  found  the  Indians  were  not  disposed  for  war,  we  should  have 
full  time  to  return,  and  make  our  establishment  in  Kentucky.  This  was 
adopted;  and  in  two  hours  the  whole  were  under  way.  As  we  ascended  the 
river,  we  met  Killbuck,  an  Indian  chief,  with  a  small  party.  We  had  a  long 
conference  with  him,  but  received  little  satisfaction  as  to  the  disposition  of  the 
Indians.  It  was  observed  that  Cresap  did  not  come  to  this  conference,  but  kept 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  He  said  that  he  was  afraid  to  trust  himself 
with  the  Indians.  That  Killbuck  had  frequently  attempted  to  way-lay  his 
father,  to  kill  him.  That  if  he  crossed  the  river,  perhaps  his  fortitude  might 
fail  him,  and  that  he  might  put  Killbuck  to  death.  On  our  arrival  at  Wheeling 
(the  country  being  pretty  well  settled  thereabouts,)  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants 


74 

appeared  to  be  alarmed.  They  flocked  to  our  camp  from  every  direction;  and 
all  that  we  could  say  could  not  keep  them  from  under  our  wings.  We  offered 
to  cover  their  neighborhood  with  our  scouts,  until  further  information,  if  they 
would  return  to  their  plantations;  but  nothing  would  prevail.  By  this  time  we 
had  got  to  be  a  formidable  party.  All  the  hunters,  men  without  families,  etc., 
in  that  quarter,  had  joined  our  party. 

"Our  arrival  at  Wheeling  was  soon  known  at  Pittsburgh.  The  whole  of  that 
country  at  that  time,  being  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  Dr.  Connolly  had 
been  appointed  by  Dunmore  Captain  Commandant  of  the  District,  which  was 
called  Waugusta.1  He,  learning  of  us,  sent  a  message  addressed  to  the  party, 
letting  us  know  that  a  war  was  to  be  apprehended;  and  requesting  that  we  would 
keep  our  position  for  a  few  days;  as  messages  had  been  sent  to  the  Indians,  and  a 
few  days  would  determine  the  doubt.  The  answer  he  got,  was,  that  we  had  no 
inclination  to  quit  our  quarters  for  some  time.  That  during  our  stay  we  should 
be  careful  that  the  enemy  should  not  harass  the  neighborhood  that  we  lay  in.  But 
before  this  answer  could  reach  Pittsburgh,  he  sent  a  second  express,  addressed 
to  Captain  Cresap,  as  the  most  influential  man  amongst  us;  informing  him  that 
the  messages  had  returned  from  the  Indians,  that  war  was  inevitable,  and  beg- 
ing  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  party,  to  get  them  to  cover  the  country  by 
scouts  until  the  inhabitants  could  fortify  themselves.  The  reception  of  this  let- 
ter was  the  epoch  of  open  hostilities  with  the  Indians.  A  new  post  was  plant- 
ed, a  council  was  called,  and  the  letter  read  by  Cresap,  all  the  Indian  traders 
being  summoned  on  so  important  an  occasion.  Action  was  had,  and  war 
declared  in  the  most  solemn  manner;  and  the  same  evening  two  scalps  were 
brought  into  camp. 

"  The  next  day  some  canoes  of  Indians  were  discovered  on  the  river,  keeping 
the  advantage  of  an  island  to  cover  themselves  from  our  view.  They  were  chased 
fifteen  miles  down  the  river,  and  driven  ashore.  A  battle  ensued ;  a  few  were 
wounded  on  both  sides;  one  Indian  only  taken  prisoner.  On  examining  their 
canoes,  we  found  a  considerable  quantity  of  ammunition  and  other  war-like  stores. 
On  our  return  to  camp,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  to  march  the  next  day,  and 
attack  Logan's  camp  on  the  Ohio  about  thirty  miles  above  us.  We  did  march 
about  five  miles,  and  then  halted  to  take  some  refreshment.  Here  the  impro- 
priety of  executing  the  projected  enterprize  was  argued.  The  conversation  was 
brought  forward  by  Cresap  himself.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  those  Indians 
had  no  hostile  intentions — as  they  were  hunting,  and  their  party  was  composed 
of  men,  women,  and  children,  with  all  their  stuff  with  them.  This  we  knew; 
as  I  myself  and  others  present  had  been  in  their  camp  about  four  weeks  past, 
on  our  descending  the  river  from  Pittsburgh.  In  short,  every  person  seemed 
to  detest  the  resolution  we  had  set  out  with.  We  returned  in  the  evening, 
decamped,  and  took  the  road  to  Red-Stone. 

"  It  was  two  days  after  this  that  Logan's  family  were  killed.  And  from  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  done,  it  was  viewed  as  a  horrid  murder.  From  Logan 's 
hearing  of  Cresap  being  at  the  head  of  this  party  on  the  river,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  he  supposed  he  had  a  hand  in  the  destruction  of  his  family. 

"Since  the  reception  of  your  letter,  I  have  procured  the  'Notes  on  Virginia.' 
They  are  now  before  me.     The  act  was  more  barbarous  than  there  related  by 

«  Wen  Augusta.— L.  C.  D. 


75 

Mr.  Jefferson.  Those  Indians  used  to  visit,  and  to  return  visits,  with  the 
neighboring  whites,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  They  were  on  a  visit  to 
a  family  of  the  name  of  Greathouse,  at  the  time  they  were  murdered  by  them 
and  their  associates. 

"The  war  now  raged  in  all  its  savage  fury  until  the  fall,  when  a  treaty  of 
peace  was  held  at  Camp  Charlotte,  within  four  miles  of  Chillicothe,  the  Indian 
capital  of  the  Ohio.  Logan  did  not  appear.  I  was  acquainted  with  him,  and 
wished  to  know  the  reason.  The  answer  was  'that  he  was  like  a  mad  dog: 
his  bristles  had  been  up,  and  were  not  yet  quite  fallen;  but^he  good  talk  now 
going  forward  might  allay  them.'  Logan's  Speech  to  Dunmore  now  came 
forward,  as  related  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  It  was  thought  to  be  clever;  though  the 
army  knew  it  to  be  wrong  as  to  Cresap.  But  it  only  produced  a  laugh  in  camp: 
I  saw  it  displeased  Captain  Cresap,  and  told  him,  'that  he  must  be  a  very  great 
man;  that  the  Indians  palmed  everything  that  happened  on  his  shoulders.' 
He  smiled  and  said  '  that  he  had  an  inclination  to  tomahawk  Greathouse  for 
the  murder. ' 

"  What  I  have  related  is  fact.  I  was  intimate  with  Cresap.  Logan  I  was 
better  acquainted  with,  at  that  time,  than  with  any  other  Indian  in  the  western 
country.  I  was  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  conduct  of  both  parties.  Logan 
was  the  author  of  the  Speech,  as  altered  by  Mr.  Jefferson;  and  Cresap 's  conduct 
was  as  I  have  here  related  it. 

"I  am  yours,  &c. 

"G.   R.   CLARK." 

This  correspondence  shows  that  Mr.  Jefferson  was  annoyed  by  the  bitter 
strictures  that  were  made  by  the  Hon.  Luther  Martin  who  had  married  Captain 
Michael  Cresap's  daughter,  and  which  were  called  forth  in  vindication  of  his 
father-in-law,  by  the  original  version  of  the  Captain's  conduct  in  1744,  as  given 
on  page  91  of  the  edition  of  the  Notes  on  Virginia,  published  by  Mathew 
Carey  at  Philadelphia,  in  1794.  About  this  time  Mr.  Jefferson  was  probably 
preparing  his  vindication  from  designed  wrong  to  the  dead,  as  will  appear  by 
the  dates  of  Mr.  Martin's  communication  to  Feknell  on  the  29th  of  March, 
1797,  and  Jefferson's  letters  to  John  Gibson  in  February,  1798,  and  in  March, 
1800,  (republished  in  the  Olden  Time  Magazine  for  February,  1847,)  and  of 
the  Appendix  No.  IV,  together  with  the  affidavits  comprised  in  it  as  published 
in  a  later  edition  of  his  Notes  on  Virginia.  General  Clark's  letter,  was  proba- 
bly never  received  by  the  distinguished  gentleman  for  whom  it  was  designed  or 
he  would  unquestionably  have  appended  it  to  the  documents  in  that  edition. 

I  may  properly  add  here  that  I  have  a  MS.  copy  of  an  affidavit  of  John 
Caldwell,  who  resided  near  Wheeling  in  1774,  (also  from  among  Mr.  Draper's 
papers,)  which  fully  exonerates  Cresap  from  all  participation  in  the  murder  of 
Logan 's  family.  In  this  affidavit  Caldwell  states  that  many  years  before,  he 
had  given  one  to  the  same  effect  to  a  person  whom  he  understood  to  be  an  agent 
or  as  acting  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Jefferson;  but  as  this  is  not  contained 
in  the  IVth  Appendix  to  the  Notes,  it  is  probable  that,  like  Clark's  letter,  it 
never  reached  Mr.  Jefferson's  hands. 


APPENDIX   No.    II 


Logan's  Speech. 

I  have  thought  that  it  would  be,  at  least,  an  entertaining  and  curious  literary 
criticism,  if  I  grouped  together  in  an  appendix  the  evidence  that  has  been  ad- 
duced both  for  and  against  Logan's  message  or  speech,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
presented,  side  by  side,  such  exact  copies  of  this  document,  as  I  have  been 
enabled  to  discover  from  the  earliest  dates.  Importance  was  given  to  the  arti- 
cle, as  we  have  already  seen  by  the  illustrative  use  made  of  it  by  Mr.  Jefferson, 
as  well  as  by  its  intrinsic  merit.  That  he  gave  it  to  the  world  as  he  received  it 
in  1774,  and  noted  it  in  his  memorandum  book,  no  one  can  doubt;  and  if  any 
sceptics  still  remain  as  to  his  sincerity,  they  may  be  referred  to  the  IVth  Ap- 
pendix in  his  Notes  on  Virginia,  for  a  vindication  so  far  as  the  speech  is  con- 
cerned and  the  evidence  was  detailed  at  the  epoch  of  his  writing. 

I  shall  place  the  most  important  pieces  of  evidence,  pro  and  con,  side  by  side: 


FOR  THE  SPEECH. 

The  first  piece  of  testimony  in  favor 
of  the  message  from  Logan,  comes 
from  John  Gibson,  and  was  sworn  to 
and  subscribed  by  him  before  J.  Bar- 
ker, at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1800,  ttcenty-six  years  after  the 
event  occurred: 


AGAINST  THE  SPEECH. 


I.  "This  deponent  further  saith 
that  in  the  year  1774,  he  accompanied 
Lord  Dunmore  on  the  expedition 
against  the  Shawanc.se  and  other  In- 
dians on  the  Scioto;  that  on  their  ar- 
rival withinjj/leen  miles  of  the  towns 
tin  y  were  met  by  a  flag  and  a  white 
man  by  the  name  of  Elliot,  who  in- 
formed Lord  Dunmore  that  the  chiefs 
of  the  Shawanese  had  sent  to  request 
his  lordship  to  halt  his  army  and  send 
in  some  person  who  understood  their 


I .  See  an  argument  on  this  subject 
written  by  the  Hon.  Luther  Mar- 
tin, son-in-law  of  Capt.  Michael  Cre- 
sap,  and  formerly  a  distinguished 
counsellor  at  law  and  Attorney  Gen- 
eral of  the  State  of  Maryland,  in 
which  he  attempts  to  impugn  this 
speech.  It  is  dated  the  29th  March, 
1797;  and  is  addressed  to  Mr.  James 
Fennell,  who,  in  his  public  readings 
as  an  elocutionist,  had  given  force 
and  currency  to  the  Logan  speech. 


77 


language;  that  this  deponent,  at  </« 
request  of  Lord  Dunmore,  and  the  whole 
of  the  officers  with  him,  went  in;  that 
on  his  arrival  at  the  towns,  Logan, 
the  Indian,  came  to  where  this  depo- 
nent was  sitting  with  the  Corn-stalk, 
and  the  other  chiefs  of  the  Shawanese, 
and  asked  him  to  walk  out  with  him ; 
that  they  went  into  a  copse  of  wood 
when  they  sat  down,  when  Logan, 
after  shedding  abundance  of  tears, 
delivered  to  him  the  speech,  nearly 
as  related  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  his 
Notes  on  the  State  of  Virginia;  that 
he  the  deponent,  told  him  then  that  it 
teas  not  Colonel  Cresap  who  had  mur- 
dered his  relatives,  and  although  his 
son,  Captain  Michael  Cresap,  was 
with  the  party  who  had  killed  a  Shaic- 
anese  chief  and  other  Indians,  yet  he 
was  not  present  when  his  relatives 
were  killed  at  Baker's,  near  the  mouth 
of  Yellow  creek,  on  the  Ohio; — that 
this  deponent,  on  his  return  to  camp, 
delivered  the  speech  to  Lord  Dun- 
more;  and  that  the  murders  perpetra- 
ted as  above  were  considered  as  ulti- 
mately the  cause  of  the  war  of  1774, 
commonly  called  C  re  sap's  war. 

Signed  John  Gibson. 


This  letter  republished  in  the  Olden 
Time  Magazine,  vol.  2,  p.  51,  drew 
forth  the  evidence  and  reply,  or  vin- 
dication, contained  in  Mr.  Jefferson's 
IVth  Appendix  to  which  so  many 
references  have  been  made  in  the 
course  of  this  discourse. 


II.  Genl.  George  Rogers  Clark 
says,  in  his  letter  of  the  17th  June, 
1798,  (ut  antea,)  twenty-four  years  of- 
ter  the  event,  that  when  the  treaty  was 
holding  at  Camp  Charlotte,  within 
four  (?)  miles  of  Chillicothe,  the  In- 
dian capital  of  Ohio,  Logan  did  not 
appear.  ' '  I  was  acquainted  with  him , 
and  wished  to  know  the  reason.  The 
answer  was:  'that  he  was  like  a  mad 
dog:  his  bristles  had  been  up,  and 
were  not  yet  quite  fallen;  but  the  good 
talk  now  going  forward  might  allay 
them.'  Logan's  speech  to  Dunmore,  as 
related  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  now  came  for- 
ward. It  was  thought  clever;  though 
the  army  knew  it  to  be  wrong  as  to  Cre- 
sap.    But  it  only  produced  a  laugh  in 


II.  Withers  in  his  Chronicles  of 

Border  Warfare,  page  136,  says," 

two  interpreters  were  sent  to  Logan 
by  Lord  Dunmore,  requesting  his 
attendance;  but  Logan  replied,  that 
"  he  was  a  warrior,  not  a  counsellor, 
and  would  not  come!'  " 

In  a  note  on  this  passage,  Mr. 
Withers  adds: — "Colonel  Benja- 
min Wilson,  Senr.,"  then  an  officer 
in  Dunmore's  army,  says  "  that  he 
conversed  freely  with  one  of  the  inter- 
preters (Nicholson)  in  regard  to  the 
mission  to  Logan,  and  that  neither 
from  the  interpreter,  nor  from  any 
other  one  during  the  campaign,  did  he 
hear  of  the  charge  preferred  in  Lo- 
gan's speech  against  Capt.  Cresap  as 


78 


the  camp.  I  saw  it  displeased  Capt. 
Cresap,  and  told  him,  'that  he  must 
be  a  very  great  man;  that  the  Indians 
had  palmed  every  thing  that  happened 
on  his  shoulders.'  He  smiled,  and 
said  that  he  'had  an  inclination  to 
tomahawk  Greathouse  for  the  mur- 
der.'" 


III.  My  learned  and  valued  friend 
James  Dunlap,  Counsellor  at  Law, 
in  Pittsburgh,  writes  me,  under  date  of 
April  25th,  1851,  as  follows: 

"  I  am  well  informed  that  Colonel 
Gibson,  who  was  an  uncle  of  Chief 
Justice  Gibson,  has  frequently  re- 
peated here  the  story  of  Logan's  de- 
livering the  speech  to  him.  He  used 
to  say  that  at  the  treaty  Lord  Dun- 
more  was  about  to  hold  with  the 
Shawanese,  he  wasrmeasy  at  the  ab- 
sence of  so  distinguished  a  chieftain 
as  Logan,  and  being  indisposed  to 
proceed  without  his  presence,  sent 
Col.  Gibson  for  him;  that  Col.  Gibson 
found  him  some  miles  off  at  a  hut 
with  several  other  Indians;  that  pre- 
tending in  the  Indian  way,  that  he 
had  nothing  in  view,  he  walked  about, 
talked,  and  drank  with  them  until 
Logan  pulled  him  quietly  by  the  coat, 
and  calling  him  out,  took  him  some 
distance  into  a  solitary  thicket,  where, 
sitting  down  on  a  log,  the  Indian 
burst  into  tears  and  broke  out  in  the 
impassioned  language  which  glows  so 
eloquently  in  the  speech.  Gibson 
■aid  that  he  returned  at  once  to  his 
friends  and  wrote  down  the  language  of 
Logan  immediately,  and  delivered  it 
to  Lord  Dunmore  in  Council. 


being  engaged  in  the  affair  at  Yellow 
creek.  Capt.  Cresap  was  an  officer 
in  the  division  under  Lord  Dunmore; 
and  it  would  seem  strange,  indeed,  if 
Logan 's  speech  had  been  made  public 
at  Camp  Charlotte,  and  neither  he 
(who  was  so  naturally  interested  in 
it,  and  could  at  once  have  proven  the 
falsehood  of  the  allegation  it  contain- 
ed,) nor  Colonel  Wilson,  (who  was 
present  during  the  whole  conference 
between  Lord  Dunmore  and  the  In- 
dian chiefs,  and  at  the  time  when  the 
speeches  were  delivered,  sat  immedi- 
ately behind  and  close  to  Dunmore,) 
should  have  heard  nothing  of  it  until 
years  after  "(.') 

III.  Mr.  Neville  B.  Craig,  in  the 
2d  vol.  of  his  "Olden Time" Maga- 
zine, page  54,  published  at  Pittsburgh 
in  1847, — when  discussing  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  speech,  says:  "  — we 
will  state,  that  many  years  ago,  Mr. 
James  McKee,  the  brother  of  Alex. 
McKee,  the  deputy  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  stated  to  us  distinctly,  that 
he  had  seen  the  speech  in  the  hand-writing 
of  one  of  the  Johnsons,  whether  Sir 
William  or  his  successor,  Guy,  we 
do  not  recollect,  before  it  was  seem 
by  Logan!" 

The  reader  will  also  find  arguments 
by  Mr.  Craig  against  the  authenticity 
of  the  speech  in  this  2d  vol.  of  the 
Olden  Time  Magazine,  at  pages  49 
and  475. 


79 


IV.  The  message  or  speech  was 
circulated  freely  at  Williamsburgh 
immediately  after  Dunmore's  return 
from  his  campaign  in  the  winter  of 

1774,  and  was  published  then  in  the 
Virginia  Gazette  on  the  4th  February, 

1775,  and  in  New  York  on  the  16th 
Feb.,  1775,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 


V.  William  McKee  testifies  in 
the  IVth  Appendix  to  Jefferson's 
Notes  on  Va.,  p.  42,  that  being  in 
the  camp  on  the  evening  of  the  treaty 
made  by  Dunmore  with  the  Indians, 
he  heard  "repeated  conversations  con- 
cerning an  extraordinary  speech  made 
at  the  treaty,  or  sent  there  by  a  chief- 


IV.  Jacob  in  his  life  of  Cresap, 
gives  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Benja- 
min Tomlinson,  on  page  106  of  his 
work.  This  testimony  was  prepared 
in  Cumberland,  Md.,  April  17,  1797, 
twenty-three  years  after  the  occurrence 
of  the  events. 

The  testimony  is  given  by  question 
and  answer: — 

"  Question  6th:  Was  Logan  at  the 
treaty  held  by  Dunmore  with  the  In- 
dians at  Camp  Charlotte,  on  Scioto? 
did  he  make  a  speech,  and,  if  not, 
who  made  it  for  him? 

"Jlnswer:  To  this  question  I  an- 
swer— Logan  was  not  at  the  treaty. 
Perhaps  Cornstalk,  the  chief  of  the 
Shawanese  nation,  mentioned  among 
other  grievances,  the  Indians  killed 
on  Yellow  creek;  but  I  believe  neither 
Cresap  nor  any  other  person,  were 
named  as  the  perpetrators;  and  I  per- 
fectly recollect  that  I  was  that  day 
officer  of  the  guard,  and  stood  near 
Dunmore's  person,  that  consequently 
I  saw  and  heard  all  that  passed; — 
that,  also,  two  or  three  days  before  the 
treaty,  when  I  was  on  the  out-guard, 
Simon  Girty,  who  was  passing  by, 
stopped  with  me  and  conversed; — he 
said  he  was  going  after  Logan,  but 
he  did  not  like  the  business,  for  he 
was  a  surly  fellow; — he,  however, 
proceeded  on,  and  I  saw  him  return 
on  the  day  of  the  treaty,  and  Logan 
was  not  with  him;  at  this  time  a  cir- 
cle was  formed  and  the  treaty  begun ; 
I  saw  John  Gibson,  on  Girty 's  arri- 
val, get  up  and  go  out  of  the  circle 
and  talk  with  Girty,  after  which  he 
(Gibson)  went  into  a  tent,  and  soon 
after  returning  into  the  circle,  drew 
out  of  his  pocket  a  piece  of  clean 
new  paper,  on  which  was  written  in 
his  own  hand-writing — a  speech  for 
and  in  the  name  of  Logan.  This  I 
heard  read  three  times,  once  by  Gib- 
son, and  twice  by  Dunmore  the  pur- 
port of  which  was  that  he,  Logan, 


80 

tain  of  the  Indians  named  Logan,  was  the  white  man's  friend,  that  on 
and  heard  several  attempts  at  a  rehearsal  his  journey  to  Pittsburgh  to  brighten 
qf  it,'1  &c.  &c.  See  also  Andrew  this  friendship,  or  on  his  return  thence, 
Rodgers's  certificate  as  to  these  facts  all  his  friends  were  killed  at  Yellow 
in  the  same  Appendix,  p.  44.  creek;  that  now  when  he  died,  who 

should  bury  him,  for  the  blood  of 
Logan  was  running  in  no  creatures' 
veins;  but  neither  was  the  name  of 
Cresap,  or  the  name  of  any  other  person 
mentioned  in  this  speech.1  But  I  recol- 
lect to  see  Dunmore  put  this  speech 
among  the  other  treaty  papers." 

From  these  parallel  statements  it  will  be  seen  that  the  chief  evidence  against 
the  authenticity  of  the  speech  or  message  as  detailed  by  John  Gibson,  is  given 
by  Col.  Wilson  and  by  Mr.  Tomlinson,  who  was  a  citizen  of  our  State,  re- 
siding in  Alleghany  county,  and  admitted  to  be  a  person  of  the  most  respecta- 
ble character  for  truth  and  intelligence.  Testimony  to  this  effect  is  adduced 
from  high  sources,  and  published  in  the  2d  vol.  of  the  Olden  Time  Magazine, 
page  476. 

A  sketch  of  Col.  John  Gibson  will  be  found  in  T.  J.  Rogers's  American 
Biographical  Dictionary,  4th  edition,  Philadelphia,  1829.  He  has  always  been 
regarded  as  an  honest  and  truthful  person.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of 
Washington  who,  in  1781  entrusted  him  with  the  command  of  the  Western 
Military  Department.  In  1782,  when  Gen.  Irvine  had  succeeded  him,  Col. 
Gibson  was  entrusted  with  the  command  during  the  General's  absence,  which 
continued  for  several  months.  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Harrison  respected 
him.  He  was  a  Major  General  of  Militia,  Secretary  of  Indian  Territory 
under  the  administration  of  Jefferson  and  Madison;  member  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Convention  in  1778;  and  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  of  Alleghany  Co.,  Pa.  Chief  Justice  Gibson  and  General  George  Gibson, 
sons  of  Col.  George  Gibson  who  was  mortally  wounded  at  St.  Clair's  defeat, 
are  his  well  known  and  esteemed  nephews. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Mr.  Tomlinson  does  not  allege  that  Gibson  did  not 
go  to  Logan's  village.  He  makes  no  statement  in  regard  to  him,  until  he  saw 
him  in  the  camp  with  Girty.  And  yet,  it  may  have  been  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  facts  as  they  occurred  that  Gibson  visited  the  Indian  villages  without 
Mr.  Tomlinson  being  aware  of  his  absence.  Nothing  was  more  likely  to  occur, 
I  should  think,  in  a  frontier  camp.  It  is  very  possible  that  Girty  may  have 
accompanied  Gibson,  as  both  had,  many  years  before  been  Indian  captives  and 
Wen  wt  II  acquainted  with  the  Shawrtncse  and  Mingoes.  Gibson  says,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Dniil.ip's  statement,  that  Logan's  message  was  not  reduced  to  writing 
until  his  return  to  camp;  and  if  Girty  accompanied  him,  nothing  was  so  proba- 
We  is  that  they  should  unite  and  resort  to  a  tent  to  commit  it  to  paper.  It  is 
impossible  for  a  man  to  know  all  that  is  going  on  in  a  camp.  General  Clark's 
letter  seems  to  prove,  conclusively,  that  Cresap's  name  was  in  the  message 
when  rend  in  the  camp,  for  he  jeered  him  with  his  asserted  importance  in 

1  Tliw  would  make  it  corrnpond  with  the  Al>b£  Robin's  copy  which  follow*. 


81 

originating  the  war,  whereupon  Cresap  broke  forth  in  bitter  invective  against 
Greathouse; — and,  moreover,  it  is  evident  that  Logan  had  previously  charged 
Cresap  with  the  murder,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  note  addressed  to 
"  Captain  Cresap,"  which  the  Indian  left  in  the  house  of  Roberts,  whose  family 
he  had  murdered  in  1774. 

I  think  it  may  be  fairly  deduced  from  the  preceding  statements,  that  John 
Gibson,  in  his  interview  with  Logan,  heard  from  him  an  outburst  of  passionate 
sorrow,  the  purport  of  which  he  subsequently  reduced  to  writing  after  his  return  to 
the  British  camp  from  the  Indian  villages, — i  distance  of  about  six  miles.1  When 
he  reached  camp,  in  all  likelihood,  he  detailed  the  conversation  with  Logan  to 
Lord  Dunmore;  and  the  Earl  and  the  Indian  trader,  who  were  both  anxious  to 
make  Logan  participate  in  the  treaty  in  some  manner,  committed  the  remem- 
bered language  of  the  savage  to  paper,  and  caused  it  to  be  read  forthwith  to  the 
army  as  a  speech  or  message  from  Logan.  The  reader  will  not  fail  to  remark, 
that  intrinsic  ally,  it  does  not  pretend  in  its  language  to  be  a  Message,  a  Speech  or  a 
pledge  for  the  future;  and,  when  critically  examined,  is  nothing  more  than  a  savage 
expostulation  or  apology  for  cruelties  committed  by  a  man  of  strong  feelings,  but  in 
which  not  a  single  note  of  personal  grief  or  of  submission  is  mingled! 

In  all  the  versions  of  this  paper  which  I  am  about  to  present,  there  is  no 
consent  by  Logan  to  the  peace,  except  in  the  copy  given  by  the  Abbe  Robin;  and 
if  Dunmore  wanted  Logan's  adhesion  to  the  treaty,  that  speech  would  most 
probably  have  satisfied  him.  The  French  copy  it  will  be  observed,  does  not  con- 
tain the  name  of  Cresap ! 

SIX  VERSIONS  OF  THE  SPEECH. 

I  have  diligently  sought  for  the  different  copies  of  this  celebrated  document, 
which  are  known  to  exist  in  our  country,  and  the  following  six  are  the  fruits  of 
my  researches.  The  first  is  taken  from  a  work  which  I  found  in  the  Baltimore 
Library  Company's  collection.  It  is  entitled:  "Nouveau  Voyage  dans  L'Jlmerique 
septentrionale,  en  VJlnnte  1781;  et  Campagne  de  VJlrmee  de  M.  le  Comte  de  Rocham- 
beau,par  M.  I'abbe  Robin."  The  abbe  was  a  chaplain  in  the  army  of  our 
French  auxiliaries: 

I.  II. 

Original  French  of  the  Abbe  Ro-  Translation,  Published  at  Phila- 

bin,  published   in  philadelphia  delphia  in  1783. 

and  Paris  in  1782.  "  The   Spaniards    have    been    re- 

"On  a  reproche    aux   Espagnols  proached  for  exercising  cruelties  upon 

leurs  cruautes  contre  ceux  des  pays  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries  they 

dont  ils  se  sont  empares:  il  paroit  conquered;  but  it  appears   that  re- 

qu'on  auroit  aussi  des  reproches  dece  proaches  of  this  kind  are  no  less  well 

genre  a  faire  aux  Colonies  Angloises.  founded   against  the  English.      An 

Ce  discours  que  m'a  communique  un  Indian  speech  that  was  given  me  by  a 

1  See  Howe's  Ohio  Hist,  collections,  p.  402,  for  a  Mai*  of  the  Ancient  Shawanese  Towns 
on  the  Pickaway  Plains,  made  by  P.  N.  White,  and  containing  the  sites  of  Logan's  cabin, 
Camp  Charlotte  (Dunmore's)  and  the  position  of  Lewis's  division  when  halted  by  the  Earl 
This  map  shows  that  the  distance  between  Logan's  cabin  and  Dunmore's  head-quarters  was 
fully  six  miles. 


82 


professor  at  Williamsburgh ,  a  trans- 
lation of  which  is  subjoined  is  a  proof 
of  this.  It  discovers,  at  the  same 
time,  the  bold  and  masculine  energy 
these  savages  are  taught  by  nature  to 
express  themselves: 

"  Speech  pronounced  by  the  savage 
Lonan,  in  a  General  Assembly 
as  it  was  sent  to  the  governor 
of  Virginia,  Anno  1754:] 

i"  Lonan  will  no  longer  oppose 
making  the  proposed  peace  with  the 
white  man — you  are  sensible  that  he 
never  knew  what  fear  is — that  he 
never  turned  his  back  in  the  day  of 
battle — no  one  has  more  love  for  the 
white  man  than  I  have.  The  war 
we  have  had  with  them  has  been  long 
and^bloody  on  both  sides — rivers  of 
blood  have  run  on  all  parts,  and  yet 
no  good  has  resulted  therefrom  to  any. 
I  once  more  repeat  it — let  us  be  at 
peace  with  these  men ;  I  will  forget  our 
injuries,  the  interest  of  our  country 
demands  it — I  will  forget,  but  difficult 
indeed  is  the  task — yes,  I  will  forget, 
Major  Rogers  cruelly  and  inhumanly 
murdered  in  their  canoes,  my  wife,  my 
children,  my  father,  my  mother,  and  all 
my  kindred.  This  roused  me  to  deeds 
of  vengeance — I  was  cruel  in  despight 
of  myself — I  will  die  content  if  my 
country  is  once  more  at  peace:  but 
when  Lonan  shall  be  no  more  who 
alas!  will  not  drop  a  tear  for  him."' 

The  speech  translated  from  the  Abbe  Robin's  work  is  tolerably  well  rendered 
into  English  by  the  translator  at  Philadelphia  in  1783,  though  it  is  not  as  ac- 
curate or  elegant  as  it  might  be.  The  main  facts  however,  are  faithfully  given, 
and  we  cannot  doubt  that  it  is  the  speech  or  message  usually  attributed  to 
lAigan,  though  it  is  assigned  to  Lonan,  and  that  the  date  of  1754  for  1774  was  a 


professeur  de  Williamsburgh,  dont 
voici  la  traduction,  en  est  un  monu- 
ment. II  montre,  en  meme  temps, 
avec  quelle  male  6nergie  ces  sauvages 
savenl  s'exprimer: 

"Discours  prononce  par   le    SAU- 
vage  Lonan,  dans  une  assemblee 

GENERALE,    ENVOYE    A   M.    le    GotJ- 
\  l.l.  M.i  l:  DE  VlRGINIE,   LE  11  Net1 

1754: 

"Lonan  ne  s'opposera  jamais  a 
faire  la  paix  qu'on  propose  avec  les 
Homines  blancs.  Vous  savez  qu'il 
ne  connut  jamais  la  crainte,  et  qu'il 
n'a  jamais  fui  dans  les  combats.  Per- 
sonne  n'aime  plus  que  moi  les  Hom- 
ines blancs.  La  guerre  que  nous  ve- 
nons  d'avoir  avec  eux,  a  etc*  longue 
et  cruelle  des  deux  cot^s.  Des  ruis- 
seaux  de  sang  ont  coul£  de  toutes 
parts,  sans  qu'il  en  soit  r^sulte"  aucun 
bien  pour  personne.  Je  le  r£pete, 
faisons  la  paix  avec  ces  hommes; 
j'oublie  leurs  injures,  l'interet  de  mon 
pays  l'exige:  j'oublie  encore  que,  na- 

guere,  le  Major ,  fit  massacrer 

impitoyablement,  dans  un  bateau,  ma 
femme,  mes  enfens,  mon  pere,  ma 
mere,  et  tous  mes  parens.  L'on 
m'excita  a  la  vengence — je  fus  cruel 
malgre'  moi.  Je  mourrai  content  si 
ma  patrie  est  en  paix:  mais  quand 
Lonan  ne  sera  plus,  qui  est-ce  qui 
versera  pour  lui  une  larmer"* 


i  Ce  mot  sijminc  apparament  le  mois  Lu- 
naire  ou  Holaire. 
'Novveau  voyage,  &c,  p.  147. 


1  New  Travels,  Sec,  p.  67.  Barton's  Medi- 
cal and  Physical  Journal,  vol.  2,  p.  148.  See 
the  latter  for  a  full  critical  commentary  on 
thii  speech,  and  for  a  promise  to  disclose 
mho  Major  Rogers  was  in  a  future  number  of 
his  journal— a  promise  which  unfortunately 
was  never  fulfilled! 


83 

misprint  or  an  inaccuracy,  either  of  the  Professor  at  Williamsburgh,  or  of  the 
Abbe*  in  translating  the  original  into  French.  The  date,  in  the  French  copy  of 
"11  JVef,"is  probably  also  a  misprint  for  11th  November,  inasmuch  as  the 
treaty  having  been  made  by  Dunmore  near  the  close  of  October,  1774,  this  copy  of 
the  speech  may  very  probably  have  been  committed  to  writing  early  in  the  follow- 
ing November.  The  general  cast  of  thought  in  the  speeches  reported  by  Jeffer- 
son and  the  Abbe"  is  the  same;  but  they  differ  in  force,  elegance  and  eloquence. 
The  essential  points  however,  to  which  I  desire  to  call  the  reader's  attention 
are:  that  in  the  French  edition  the  massacre  is  attributed,  not  to  Cresap,  but  to 

a  "  Major ;"  in  the  English  translation  the  blank  is  filled  by  the  name  of 

"  Major  Rogers; "  and  finally  that  Logan  or  Lonan  asserts  this  blood  thirsty 
commander  murdered  his  wife,  his  children,  his  father,  his  mother,  and  all  his 
kindred,  in  their  canoe  ! 

Now,  it  will  be  recollected  that  Shikellamy,  his  father,  died  at  Shamokin  in 
1749;  so  that  he  could  not  have  been  killed  at  Yellow  creek  in  1774;  and, 
moreover,  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  notes  on  Virginia,  (edition  of  1794)  says 
that  "  Col.  Cresap,  a  man  infamous  for  the  many  murders  he  had  committed 
on  these  much  injured  people,  collected  a  party  and  proceded  down  the  Kenhawa 
in  quest  of  vengeance.  Unfortunately  a  canoe  of  women  and  children  with  one 
man  only,  was  seen  coming  from  the  opposite  shore,  unarmed  and  unsuspecting 
a  hostile  attack  from  the  whites.  Cresap  and  his  party  concealed  themselves 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  the  moment  the  canoe  reached  the  shore,  singled 
out  their  objects,  and,  at  one  fire,  killed  every  person  in  it.  This  happened  to  be 
the  family  of  Logan  who  had  long  been  distinguished  as  a  friend  of  the  whites." 

Here  the  story  of  the  murder  in  canoes,  and  of  the  whole  of  Logan 's  family 
was  repeated,  and  the  geography  of  the  scene  is  ascribed  to  the  Kenhawa. 
This  upon  examination  was  found  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  be  inaccurate,  and  in 
the  edition  of  the  Notes  on  Virginia,  which  he  retained  by  him  until  his  death, 
and  in  the  IVtli  Appendix  to  more  recent  editions  than  that  of  1794,  he  caused 
the  paragraph  above  cited  to  be  substituted  by  the  following: 

"Capt.  Michael  Cresap  and  a  certain  Daniel  Greathouse,  leading  on  these 
parties,  surprized  at  different  times,  travelling  and  hunting  parties  of  the  Indians, 
having  their  women  and  children  with  them,  and  murdered  many.  Among 
these  were  unfortunately  the  family  of  Logan,  a  chief  celebrated  in  peace  and  in 
war,  and  long  distinguished  as  the  friend  of  the  whites." 

This  is  certainly  a  mitigation  of  the  charge  against  Capt.  Cresap,  but  it 
leaves  altogether  indefinite  the  fact  as  to  whether  Greathouse  and  Cresap  con- 
jointly directed  these  parties,  or  which  of  the  two  murdered  Logan's  relatives. 
It  relieves  Cresap,  however,  altogether  from  the  charge  of  murdering  the  Logan 
family  in  canoes,  on  the  Kenhawa,  a  fact  which  seems  to  have  been  current  at 
Williamsburgh,  Va.,  when  the  Abbe  Robin  was  there  and  received  the  speech 
of  Lonan  from  the  Williamsburgh  professor ! 

It  will  be  well  for  the  reader  to  compare  the  speeches  line  by  line  as  given  by 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  by  the  Abbe.  The  resemblances  and  the  variances  cannot 
fail  to  attract  his  critical  notice. 

►  This  copy, — if  we  admit  the  date  to  be  the  11th  November,  1774,  as  we 
have  stated  it  to  have  been  most  probably, — is  the  eldest  member  of  this  family  of 
speeches  I  have  been  able  to  discover  in  tracing  its  pedigree.  No  manuscript 
copy  of  the  time,  has,  to  my  knowledge,  ever  been  found. 


84 


in. 

My  friend  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Ellis, 
of  Richmond,  Virginia,  has  kindly 
sent  in.  the  following  authentic  copy 
of  the  message  of  Logan,  extracted 
from  the    "Virginia    Gazette,    No. 

i±><;." 

"YVillumsboroii,  February  4,  1775. 

"The  following  is  said  to  be  a  mes- 
sage from  Captain  Logan  (an  Indian 
warrior)  to  Gov.  Dunmore,  after  the 
battle  in  which  Col.  Charles  Lewis 
was  slain,  delivered  at  the  treaty: 

"  I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say 
that  he  ever  entered  Logan's  cabin 
but  I  gave  him  meat;  that  he  ever 
came  naked  but  I  clothed  him.  In 
the  [course  of  the  last  war  Logan  re- 
mained in  his  cabin  an  advocate  for 
peace.  I  had  such  an  affection  for 
the  white  people  that  I  was  pointed 
at  by  the  rest  of  my  nation.  I  should 
have  ever  lived  with  them,  had  it  not 
been  for  Colonel  Cressop,1  who  last 
year,  cut  off  in  cold  blood,  all  the  re- 
lations of  Lognn  not  sparing  women 
and  children.  There  runs  not  a  drop 
of  my  blood  in  the  veins  of  any  hu- 
man creature.  This  called  upon  me 
for  revenge;  I  have  sought  it,  I  have 
killed  many,  and  fully  glutted  my 
revenge.  I  am  glad  that  there  is  a 
prospect  of  peace  on  account  of  my 
nation;  but  I  beg  you  will  not  enter- 
tain a  thought  that  any  thing  I  have 
said  proceeds  from  fear!  Logan  dis- 
dains the  thought!  He  will  not  turn 
on  his  heel  to  save  his  life!  Who  is 
there  to  mourn  for  Logan  ?  .  .  .  .  No 


IV. 

From  the  IVth  Series  of  American 
Archives,  vol.  1,  p.  1020,  I  extract 
the  following: 

"Mw  York,  February  16,  1775. 
Extract  of  a  letter  from  Virginia:  •  I 
make  no  doubt  but  the  following  spe- 
cimen of  Indian  Eloquence  and  mis- 
taken valour  will  please  you;  but 
must  make  allowance  for  the  unskill- 
fulness  of  the  Interpreter: 

"  The  speech  of  'Logan — a  Shawa- 
nese  Chief— to  Lord  Dunmore: 
"I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say 
if  ever  he  entered  Logan's  cabin  hun- 
gry and  I  gave  him  not  meat,  if  ever 
he  came  cold  or  naked  and  I  gave  him 
not  clothing.  During  the  course  of  the 
last  long  and  bloody  war  Logan  re- 
mained in  his  tent  an  advocate  for 
peace;  nay,  such  was  my  love  for  the 
whites,  that  those  of  my  own  country 
pointed  at  me  as  they  passed  by,  and 
said,  '  Logan  is  the  friend  of  white 
men!'  I  had  even  thought  to  live 
with  you,  but  for  the  injuries  of  one 
man.  Colonel  Cresap,  the  last  spring, 
in  cool  blood  and  unprovoked  cut  off 
all  the  relations  of  Logan  not  even 
sparing  my  women  and  children. 
There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood 
in  the  veins  of  any  human  creature. 
This  called  on  me  for  revenge.  I  have 
sought  it — I  have  killed  many — 1  have 
fully  glutted  my  vengeance.  For  my 
country  I  rejoice  at  the  beams  of  peace; 
btit  do  not  harbour  the  thought  that  mine 
is  the  joy  of  fear.  Logan  never  felt  fear. 
He  will  not  turn  on  his  heel  to  save 
his  life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn  for 
Logan?    Not  one." 


i  He  U  here,  in  thi«  message  delivered  in  October,  1774,  called  Colonel  Crcesop,  both  title 
and  name  being  inaccurately  given.  In  the  note  left  by  Logan  in  the  house  in  Virginia  whose 
inhabitant*  he  had  murdered,  dated  12th  July,  1744,  he  styles  him  Captain  Cresap.  Thus  he 
evidently  knew  his  proper  title  anterior  to  the  message  in  October,  in  which  he  miscalls  him- 
That  the  tiUe,  if  introduced  at  all,  was  assigned  by  Logan  is  unquestionable,  for  Gibson  says 
so  in  his  preceding  testimony. 


85 


The  comparison  of  these  two  copies  is  not  a  little  singular;  the  one  published 
on  the  4th  Feb.,  1775,  at  Williamsburgh,  Va.,  and  the  other  only  fourteen  days 
after,  in  New  York,  on  the  16th  of  the  same  month  in  the  same  year. 

The  Virginia  announcement  states  it  to  be  only  a"  message  "  which  wan 
"said  to  have  been "  sent  by  Captain  Logan,  (who  was  known  to  be  a  Mingo,) 
to  Lord  Dunmore.  The  New  York  copy,  during  the  transit  from  Virginia,  is 
magnified  into  a  speech,  and  dignifies  the  orator  as  a  "Shawanese  Chief!" 
Nor  has  the  language  of  the  document  deteriorated  by  its  travel  northward. 
The  Indian  abruptness  and  directness  has  been  softened  by  the  journey,  and 
the  reader  will  particularly  note  the  variances  which  we  have  endeavored  to 
point  out  by  causing  the  chief  passages  to  be  printed  in  italics. 

The  next  member  of  this  eloquent  lineage  blooms  in  mature  perfection,  in 
the  pages  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia;  and,  with  its  translation  into 
French,  in  the  year  1788,  I  shall  close  my  analysis  of  the  genealogy. 

Mr.  Jefferson  says  in  his  IVth  Ap-  Extract  from  "  Recherches  histori- 

pendix:  " the  speech  itself"        ques  et  Politiques  sur  les  Etats-Unis 


was  "so  fine  a  morsel  of  eloquence 
that  it  became  the  theme  of  every  con- 
versation, in  Williamsburgh,  partic- 
ularly, and  generally  indeed,  where- 
soever any  of  the  officers  resided  or 
resorted.  I«  learned  it  in  Williams- 
burgh; I  believe  at  Lord  Dunmore 's, 
and  I  find  in  my  pocket  book  of  that 
year,  (1774,)  an  entry  of  the  narra- 
tive as  taken  from  the  mouth  of  some 
person,  whose  name,  however,  is  not 
noted,  nor  recollected,  precisely  in  the 
words  stated  in  the  Notes  on  Virginia: 


de  PAmerique  Septentrionale,"  1788, 
4th  vol.  p.  154. 


"  I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say 
if  ever  he  entered  Logan's  cabin  hun- 
gry, and  he  gave  him  not  meat;  if 
ever  he  came  cold  and  naked,  and  he 
clothed  him  not.  During  the  course 
of  the  last  long  and  bloody  war,  Lo- 
gan remained  idle  in  his  cabin,  an  ad- 
vocate for  peace. — Such  was  my  love 
for  the  whites  that  my  countrymen 
pointed  as  they  passed,  and  said: — 
'Logan  is  the  friend  of  white  men.' 
1  had  even  thought  to  have  lived  with 
you,  but  for  the  injuries  of  one  man. 
Colonel  Cresap,1  the  last  spring,  in 

'  Cresap  happened  to  be  only  a  Captain ;  but  the  translated  Robin  edition  makes  the  felon  a 
Major,  while  Mr.  Jefferson's  elevates  him  into  a  Colonel,  though  Logan  had  called  him  simply 
Captain  in  his  bloody  missive  of  the  2lrt  July,  MIA '. 

12 


VI. 

"  Y-a-t'il  un  homme  blanc  qui 
puisse  dire  qu  'il  soit  jamais  entre  ayant 
faim  dans  la  cabane  de  Logan,  et  a 
qui  Logan  n  'ait  pas  donne  a  manger, 
et  que  Logan  n  'ait  pas  revetu !  Durant 
le  cours  de  la  derniere  longue  et  sang- 
lante  guerre,  Logan  est  reste  oisif 
dans  sa  cabane,  exhortant  sans  cesse 
ses  compatriotes  d  la  paix.  Telle  etoit 
son  amitie  pour  les  blancs,  que  ses 
freres,  le  montrant  au  doigt  en  pas- 
sant, disoient:  'Logan  est  l'ami  des 
blancs.'  II  vouloit  meme  aller  vivre 
aw  milieu  de  vous,  avant  qu  'un  homme, 


86 


cold  blood,  and  unprovoked,  mur- 
dered all  the  relations  of  Logan,  not 
sparing  even  my  women  and  children. 
There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood 
in  the  veins  of  any  living  creature. 
This  called  on  me  for  revenge.  I 
have  sought  it:  I  have  killed  many: 
I  have  fully  glutted  my  vengeance. 
For  my  country,  I  rejoice  at  the 
beams  of  peace;  but  do  not  harbor  a 
thought  that  mine  is  the  joy  of  fear. 
Logan  never  felt  fear.  He  will  not 
turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his  life.  Who 
is  there  to  mourn  for  Logan  ? — Not 
one."' 


le  Colonel  Cresap,  au  printems  der- 
nier, de sang  froid  et  sans  provocation, 
nit  assassine"  tous  les  parens  de  Lo- 
gan, sans  e^pargner  meme  les  femmes 
et  les  enfens.  II  ne  coule  plus  main- 
tenant  aucune  goutte  de  mon  sang 
dans  aucune  creature  vivante.  J'ai 
voulu  me  venger;  J'ai  combattu:  j'ai 
tue  beaucoup  de  blancs.  J  'ai  assouvi 
ma  vengeance.  Je  me  rejouis  pour 
mon  pays  des  approches  de  la  paix; 
mais  gardez  vous  de  penser  jamais 
que  cette  joie  soit  celle  de  la  crainte. 
Logan  n'a  jamais  connu  la  crainte: 
II  ne  tournera  jamais  ses  pieds  pour 
sauver  sa  vie.  Qui  reste-t'il  mainte- 
nanl  pour  pleurer  Logan?  Personne. " 

The  slight  variations  in  the  trans- 
lation are  noted  by  italics. 


'  Jefl.  Note*  on  Va.    Ed.  1 794,  p.  91 . 


Erratum.— Page  8,  eighth  line  from  top,  tor  his  of  read  of  his. 


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